Lessons to be learnt from the Corona-Shock-1
By Rao VBJ Chelikani Only in times of crisis is that we can understand and assess our strengths and weaknesses in the progress of humankind. Let us identify them, so that we can strive to strengthen those forces in future. 1. We have to understand without any further demonstration after the onslaught of the last Sunami and the current COVID-19 that all countries in the world are inter-dependent and inter-connected. We have to be global in our outlook and egalitarian in our outlook. 2. We are one with each other, starti…
Why Every State should have a Legislative Council ?
By Dr. Rao V.B.J. Chelikani In a system of democracy where Parliament is the most important decision-maker, it has always been considered necessary to sub-divide it into two houses with two kinds of representatives with different interests, so as not to allow concentration of power or majoritarian decisions to be imposed on the residents in a country. Of course, in any case, the judiciary is given the right to review the decisions to see whether they conform to the spirit and the letter of the constitution which is supreme in t…
A Single Capital City is Inadequate for a State
In the ancient and medieval ages, as well as till the Nineteenth century, the kings and the wars they waged needed a single, central, fortified and self-contained capital city, wherein, again the royal palace in it was the single most important building to be protected. Since then, every new country that re-organised itself, set up the capital city, considering it as essential as a head to a human body. The word ‘capita’ means head. But things have changed now. We have new knowledge and new technological and electronic practices tha…
A Letter to All Political Parties in Telangana in View of Forthcoming Municipal Elections
15th July, 2019 Sir, There are going to be elections in the state of Telangana for the municipalities and corporations very soon and they will be followed by elections to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation also under a new Act. Naturally, all parties would be nominating their candidates to be councillors and corporators. We wish you success in your party’s efforts, notwithstanding the fact that we are not sure that political parties should be involved in local self-governing communities. Now, on behalf of a number of civil society or…
Voting By All as One Nation and in One Poll
Lessons from the just concluded general elections point to the need for urgent electoral reforms if we are to make our political democracy more efficient. By Dr.Rao VBJ Chelikani After the 2019 general elections, we have rightly learnt many lessons. In order to make our political democracy more efficient, we need urgent reforms, for which there appears to be an unusual consensus. Therefore, we appeal to the Mr. Prime Minister to get into action so as to constitute a corporation to maintain nationwide Electoral Rolls and the option to vote ele…
Some Proposals for Reforming Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Act & its Rules & Regulations in 2019
Objective 1: Firstly, the new municipal Act should reflect further devolution of functions, functionaries and funds to the urban local self-governing bodies, as envisaged in the 74 th Constitutional Amendment, which is not completed. Secondly, it is to provide more venues for increased direct participation of the urban citizen in the governance. Objective II: Only 40% of the urban population participates in the election of their local representatives for various reasons, which cannot be adjudged as a deficit in their democratic spirit. Hence,…
Some Proposals : Reform Land Administration and re-distribution of Revenue Department functions in the Districts
The Objective: Firstly, a new Act should de-concentrate the power of decision-making and execution of various functions from the Revenue department and the district collector by handing them over to the concerned departments present in the district. Secondly, it should reflect further devolution of functions, functionaries and funds to the local self-governing bodies, as envisaged in the 73 rd Constitutional Amendment. Measures : While acknowledging the historic contribution made by the Revenue Department for administrative unification of …
Administration in the District
More than the re-organisation of states, it is important to re-organise the 700 existing districts and multiply them by four times for the purposes of administrative viability, their specific development needs, as well as for self-governance. It is the British who formed the districts as administrative units in all the territories under their direct rule. Their formation was mostly based on their historical situations and military, revenue and administrative viability. After independence too, in the interests of consolidating national integrit…
A Citizen`s Letter to His President
Shri Ram Nath Kovind 18 th March 2019 Hon’ble President of India New Delhi Sir, Sub: The responsibility of preparing the nationwide Electoral Rolls, and the option of electronic voting. I am one of those citizens in the country, who is pained to see that our political representatives, while constantly criticising each other are not able to devote enough attention to the imperatives of economic growth. I also regret that the Constitution has not provided any op…
Our National Election Commission
By Dr.Rao VBJ. Chelikani It is time that the Election Commission of India becomes pro-active to promote better democratic practices on the part of our political class. It is probably one of the very few valiant institutions about which an average voter is not very cynical and whose objectivity, he does not doubt much. It has been, so far, able to protect the citizens’ statutory right to vote freely and fairly. With the introduction of the electronic voting machines with the possibility to visually verify one’s vote, its efficiency has increas…
Religions and Culture in India
With the emergence of an independent and awakened India, its culture is becoming more humanist, pacific, universal and inclusive, bereft of political or religious ideologies. By Dr. Rao VBJ Chelikani It would be interesting to understand a phenomenon that occurred very often in history in different parts of the world. We can produce a formula out of it: the higher the sophistication of a culture or civilisation of a nation, the lower would be its capacity to defend itself. Why did the mighty civilisations, so easily, succumb to physically das…
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