A Law on Hope

There should be a “Law on Hope” said Justice S.B.Sinha, Judge, Supreme Court of India, while delivering the 1st H.M.Seervai Memorial Lecture organized by the KIIT Law School on 20th September 2008.

A Law on Hope – seems to be quite an apt proposition for our times. We live in times when there is deception all around us – be it health, education, industry or plain governance. Raising expectations of people without doing enough to meet these expectations creates frustration and an environment of hopelessness.

Here is an excerpt from Dr K P Prabhakaran Nair’s article titled “The real India is getting poorer by the day”

(Quote)
When the World Bank says that four out of ten Indians live below the poverty line, one could quarrel with the methodology used, but, there is no disputing the cause — pathetic governance.

According to the September 30, 2007 status report of the Ministry of Programme Implementation, out of 897 projects, 276 suffered cost overruns with an anticipated cost of Rs. 1,42,227 crore, against the original estimate of Rs 95,913 crore, a colossal 48 per cent increase. This shows that for more than 30 per cent of the projects, the accountability factor is of a very low order
(Unquote)

It is time we moved away from extolling the practice of celebrating foundation stone laying ceremonies. It is important for India to ensure successful completion of projects.