Page 14 - EducationWorld Oct. 2022

Editorial

ENFORCE 74TH AMENDMENT Amendment, property tax should be
determined by committees elected by
registered property owners in every
ward, and distributed upwards to mu-
EAVY RAIN, FLOODING AND water- ment authorities to cope. Moreover nicipal and state governments as per a
logging of Bengaluru (in 2014 much of the debate is centred on negotiated formula.
Hfoolish parochial politicians technical problems such as blockage This is the essence of the 74th
mindlessly surrendered its global of storm water drains and draining of Amendment which has been ignored
brand identity as Bangalore, the IT lake beds to build homes and offices. by greedy state governments. Under
capital of India) in early September Undoubtedly there is some substance this schema committees of richer/
caused substantial damage to busi- in these explanations, but they side- upscale wards would not be averse to
ness and industry variously esti- step deep-rooted issues that require levying high property taxes to build
mated at Rs.500-700 crore by way of resolution to stem the rot. superior infrastructure which would
loss of material, stock-in-trade and The first great act of omission that enhance property prices. The basic
production. The tragedy is that such has resulted in pervasive mal-admin- rationale of 73rd (for rural areas)
water-logging and flooding is becom- istration of Bengaluru (and all major and 74th amendments is that if citi-
ing normative in this over expanded cities countrywide) is the failure of the zens carefully tended their wards, the
metropolis sprawled over a diameter intelligentsia and middle class to press whole city would become beautiful.
of 741 sq. km. for enforcement of Part IXA of the But commissions-skimming and
The standard explanation for the Constitution as rewritten by the 74th bribe-hungry politicians and bureau-
slide of this once garden city into Amendment (1993). The amendment crats are reluctant to devolve tax and
functional anarchy is that business mandates devolution of civic admin- spend power to ward committees with
and industry — especially the people- istration power to municipal govern- direct interest in increasing property
intensive ICT (information commu- ments and further down to citizens’ values in their backyards. Therefore,
nication technologies) industry — has ward committees. Although munici- the focus of civic reformers and plan-
grown too fast and prompted a num- pal corporations are extant in most ners should be on devising ways and
bers explosion with the city’s popu- cities, property tax is determined, means to enforce the 74th Amend-
lation having risen from 6 million in levied and collected by state govern- ment of the Constitution. This is the
1999 to 10 million currently. This has ments and trickled down to municipal necessary first step towards meaning-
made it impossible for civic manage- corporations. To give effect to the 74th ful civic administration reform.

SELF DESTRUCTIVE SUB-NATIONALISM percent of jobs in public and private
companies for Kannadigas, defined
as individuals resident in the state
for over 15 years and fluent in read-
OAD TRAFFIC M ISM ANAGEM ENT leging that 40 percent “commission” ing and writing Kannada, the domi-
and chaos witnessed 24x7 on is routinely extorted by government nant language of Karnataka. Secondly,
Rthe roads of Bengaluru, the officials for awarding civic contracts legislation titled Kannada Language
administrative capital of the south- and releasing payments after project Comprehensive Development Bill
ern state of Karnataka (pop.64 mil- execution. More recently (August) under which all government business
lion), is pervading the state’s politics RUPSA (Registered Unaided Private and communication will be conducted
and all sectors of government. A few Schools Association) has also written solely in Kannada has been drafted by
decades ago, Karnataka had the de- to the PMO complaining that educa- the BJP government and is set to be
served reputation of being ranked tion ministry officials routinely arm- enacted in the current monsoon ses-
among the country’s most well-gov- twist them for issuing school recog- sion of the legislative assembly.
erned states offering a business and nition and no-objection certificates Besides being violative of Articles
industry friendly environment. But to promote new schools and release 14 (equality) and 19 (1) (g) of the Con-
since its transformation in the new reimbursements payable by the state stitution (to conduct business freely),
millennium into the hub of the new government under s.12 (1) (c) of the such sub-nationalist, provincial initia-
ICT (information communication RTE Act, 2009. tives are self-destructive because they
technologies) industry, the garden city Quite obviously, to distract rising will inhibit investment and damage
has acquired an infamous reputation public indignation, the BJP govern- industry productivity. Similarly lan-
for political populism, maladministra- ment which is gearing for legislative guage chauvinism is likely to adverse-
tion and widespread corruption. In assembly elections scheduled for ly impact the ease of doing business
the Transparency International India next summer, has resorted to popu- because E(I)nglish is the language of
index, 2019, Karnataka is ranked #4 list parochial and language chauvin- business and the judiciary. Instead of
for government corruption. ism proclamations that are likely to resorting to desperate populism in the
Last November the state’s BJP gov- further discourage investment flow final run-up to the imminent assembly
ernment was rocked after the Karna- into the state. On September 23, election, the state’s BJP government
taka State Road Contractors’ Associa- chief minister Basavaraj Bommai an- would do well to address the issue of
tion wrote directly to prime minister nounced that the state government runaway corruption, ruining the good
Narendra Modi’s office in Delhi, al- has finalised legislation to reserve 75 reputation of Karnataka.

14 EDUCATIONWORLD OCTOBER 2022