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The
crucial Tamil Nadu (TN) assembly
election is round the corner.
There are several significant
stakeholders in this arduous
election process especially in
its peaceful conduct and
completion. On the one hand, we
have so many political parties
and independents yearning for
the position, pleasure and
power, the election commission
(EC), the watchdog for
successfully accomplishing the
assignment is hyperactive this
time considering the fact that
the politicians could go to any
extent to snatch victory through
a variety of foul means and
moves in the battle ahead, the
media (electronic as well as
print), which is keenly watching
the existing, emerging and
exciting scene for objective
coverage and reporting, and
finally the people, who are the
lucky kingmakers being pampered
and patted for a few days (the
reverse trend will sneak and set
in comfortably once the election
results are out). Parties have,
after undergoing a lot of
real-world difficulties and
dissidence, firmed up their
electoral alliances and
associations. Though the outcome
of this exercise is not pleasant
for some, the parties could
finish the rough and tough seat
allocation tasks well in time.
Even one influential party had
to back off from the contest at
the last minute due to internal
bickering. Further on, the
parties have released their own
manifesto with a host of
provisions and promises. In a
way, the euphoria associated
with the initial formalities has
just got over.
Subsequently with much fanfare,
every single aspirant could
start the campaign with all
sincerity and seriousness in
sync up with their electoral
partners. The canvass is in full
swing these days and the vote
seekers are employing different
methodologies including the
liberal leverage of the
information and communication
technologies to reach out the
masses more quickly. As the
campaign is steadily getting
into the accelerated and
attacking mode, the public is
entitled for some hot bites,
biriyani, etc.
For the ensuing election,
political parties craftily have
bombarded and bamboozled the
people with a growing list of
freebies if authorised to govern
the state for next five years.
The free-for-all syndrome,
originated and carefully
sustained for some years now,
has definitely lowered the
esteem of TN in the national
level. This obnoxious trend has
reached the nadir in this
election with parties striving
and stretching hard to outwit
the others. It is becoming a
laughing stock and something
substantial and sacramental has
to be initiated collaboratively
and executed boldly to end this
nuisance to rescue the TN people
from the impending and insidious
dangers. Clearly the development
agenda has taken the backseat in
this melee and madness.
The goal of this write-up is to
give some right and relevant
insights for the TN people in
simplifying and streamlining
their decision-process.
Generally voters ponder about
different parameters (caste,
creed, religion, region,
ideology, etc.) before deciding
whom to vote. The days of
verifying and validating the
candidate’s integrity, honesty,
capability, approachability and
commitment are unfortunately
already gone. The overwhelming
and ominous view is that
politicians are self-seeking,
corrupt, and casual. In this
challenging and sickening
environment, my preferred
prescription for choosing the
party or alliance to rule us for
the next five years is the sheer
development aspect. How much
development has been achieved in
the last five years can be a
good yardstick to arrive at a
sensible decision. The economic
prosperity accomplished through
a slew of reformations can be a
right metric to measure the
performance of the ruling party.
There are several segments which
we can analyse and articulate
for more accurate and
appropriate understanding about
the developmental activities
initiated and finished.
The
Industrialization Revival –
As
we all know that the
industrialization in massive
scale is a definite booster to
raise the living standard of
people. With that realization,
new industry policy was
meticulously made and unveiled
to world business behemoths to
usher in considerable
industrialization across the
state. A single window system
was set up in order to speed up
the approval process by
eliminating all the inherent
barriers. Coupled with other
related initiatives, these
coordinated efforts have
resulted in scores of new
manufacturing plants, industry
parks and clusters, etc., in our
state. Especially all the major
car manufacturers from different
parts of the world have put
their shops in and around
Chennai. The city of Chennai is
being turned and tuned to be the
central and core exporting hub
for cars and hence Chennai is
rightly being dubbed as”the
Detroit of South Asia”. Mobile
phones and computer
manufacturing plants are planted
in the suburbs of Chennai and
that has resulted in creating
thousands of jobs for locals
(technical as well as
non-technical). For encouraging
fresh investments in
industrially lagging districts
in the southern part, more
concessions in the form of tax
exemptions are being granted.
Special purpose vehicles (SPVs)
and special economic zones (SEZs)
are being given prime importance
to draw more value-added and
job-creating industries. TN
stands at the 2nd or
3rd level at national
level in attracting foreign
investments.
The
Energy Revitalization –
Power cut has been a major
irritant for the last couple of
years in TN. Hopefully from next
year onwards, there will not be
any power problem due to the
meticulous planning and speedy
execution of several
power-generation projects across
the state for generating more
than 10,000 MWs electricity by
the DMK government. With this,
the existing gap (around 3000
MWs) between the supply and the
demand can be nullified and
meeting the future demands
comfortably becomes easier. Due
to the utter failure of the
previous governments in
initiating any major power
projects, the present government
had to face the music. Also
fuelled by the massive
industrialization, the slowness
in power generation,
transmission and distribution
reforms, and the free
distribution of TVs, etc. have
complicated the power scenario
earning a bad name for the
present government.
The
IT Revolution
–
During the
previous regime, there was a war
cry to prepare the Hosur town
for IT investments from
different quarters as the
Bangalore infrastructure has
been suffocating with the
unexpected and IT-induced
growth. However it fell on deaf
ears. The present government had
initiated a slew of measures for
setting up IT parks in six major
cities to attract multinational
IT companies to put their shops
there. Most of IT parks are all
set for occupation and are
brimming with confidence for
subsequent expansion with all
the incentives and concessions
being granted under the special
scheme. The TIDEL Park in
Taramani, Chennai is the
starting and shining point for
the IT revolution in TN and the
second IT Park adjacent to that
is under construction (all under
the vision of the DMK
government). The IT fever has
since then spread out wider and
broader and due to that,
thousands of IT jobs are being
created for those students
passing out of professional
colleges today. The IT export is
growing very fast and TN stands
second in India on that account.
The
Education Renaissance -
This
government has done a lot of
good things as far as the
education is concerned.
Established several new
universities and colleges
(technical, medical, law,
science, sports etc.) across the
state, appointed thousands of
teachers in government schools,
etc. Still a long way remains
to traverse in this segment yet
this government has laid an
appreciable foundation for the
sustainable growth.
The
Infrastructure Resurrection –
This
is the very critical segment and
fortunately the present
government gave greater
attention for rectifying all the
past inactions and to put
everything in place to
accelerate the infrastructural
growth. All the main arterial
roads are made world-class
across the state using the
unquestionable public private
participation (PPP) model and
the government has built so many
flyovers, tunnels, expressways
etc. in industrially hyperactive
cities in order to reduce the
traffic bottlenecks and snarls
with long-term and precise
planning and perfect execution.
Especially Chennai today
presents a totally transformed
city with a number of
infrastructure developments.
Other fast-growing cities such
as Coimbatore, Madurai, etc.,
are being activated to enable
them to get larger investments
to pass through a number of
delectable transitions in their
infrastructure needs.
Finally, some trendsetting and
tantalizing development projects
had to be shelved due to the
persistent opposition from
opposition parties. We could
have a brand new and world-class
airport in Chennai and this is
being slowed down with the
connivance of political parties.
A new city landscape as navi
Mumbai in Maharashtra state
adjacent to Chennai in order to
decongest the terrific traffic
problem was planned and this
also met the same fate. In the
south, a private and popular
industry leader was showing a
keen interest in setting up a
large industry and had to be
stopped and scrapped due to the
non-cooperation movement
motivated by political rivals
and locals. There are a couple
of national-level awards for the
sustainable improvisations and
improvements of TN.
I will be very happy if the
future government to be led by
any party or coalition competing
in this poll can surpass or even
match the developmental works
initiated, implemented and
inculcated by the present
government. Even the manifesto
being presented to people by
parties looks like the cut-paste
version of the
DMK
manifesto. The parties are not
sensitive enough to the peoples’
requirements at the ground
level, not sensible and smart
enough to come out with an
innovative and unique agenda for
the people. “He give freebies
and I add more on that” is the
gist and crux of the manifestos
released for public deliberation
and decision. No doubt that the
TN people are being taken for a
bad and sad ride and treated in
an utterly disdain and derisive
fashion. How can we expect a
kind of reasonable, reliable and
responsible governance from such
people and parties?
Vote
for
DMK
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