Seed :
Madhya
Pradesh to Table Bill to Stop Borewell Deaths
Extract :
he Madhya Pradesh government is in the process of drafting a law, which is believed to be the first of its kind in India, aimed at preventing fatalities
resulting from open borewells.
§ In
the last seven months, more than nine such incidents have been documented in MP.
Key Points
§ The
suggested legislation will
contain specific instructions on preventing such disasters, how to respond if one occurs, and the process for assigning
accountability.
§ The
bill calls for identification of
open / dry borewells and heavy
penalties on those responsible for not filling or plugging them and leaving them as an open
hazard.
§ If
the borewell is on private land, the land owner will be fined. If it's
government land, the department
and officer concerned will
be penalised.
o The
second stage would be
registration of a criminal case in case someone falls into an open borewell. As of now, the accused is booked for
negligence. Under the new law, the accused
will be booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections.
§ Apart
from the land owner or government
official, responsibility would also be fixed on the agency that drills
the borewell.
§ A
system would be put in place for citizens
to inform government about open borewells so that preventive action can be taken..
The Tree
:
Needed : a Service Liability Act ..
……………..12 June 2019
Extract :
Many
countries have Product Liability Acts under which , product manufacturers are
held responsible / accountable for any hurt / damage caused to the users of
their products ( even years later )
Especially in
USA , this Act is very stringent and the liability extends even to the
suppliers who might have supplied a defective component / sub-assembly which
went into the final product
I am not aware
of any such Act in India ; nor have heard of any instance where ( say , for
example ) a car manufacturer is dragged to court for a defective brake which
caused deaths due to failure to perform
But what we ,
in India , need rather badly right now , is a Service Liability Act
There are only
a few “ products “ that Indian Government manufactures and sells to its
citizens ( through PSUs ) but throughout the day, government servants /
employees , deliver a host of SERVICES to the citizens – services that they are
required to deliver legally / constitutionally or in an implied manner
For a timely
delivery of such services , some states have introduced “ Delivery of Services
Act “
They might
have even prescribed some “ penalty / punishment “ for “ late or no
“ delivery
But such
instances are rare . Following is an example :
For not curbing pollution, Delhi civic chiefs may face
prosecution.
Just to
emphasize my point , do you think any government servant would go to jail for
the following ? :
Mumbai: One dead as SRA high-rise
building in Mahalaxmi catches fire
Mithi neglected, 2005-like floods ‘inevitable’, state
report tells SC
Fire safety norms
in Mumbai: In 3 years, only 36 housing societies prosecuted for non-compliance
Nearly 56% of bulk waste generators
flout BMC rule
Air pollution: NGT slaps Rs 25 crore
fine on Delhi govt
Allocate as many courts as needed, speed
up netas’ criminal trials ; SC
Not a single
day passes without newspapers reporting dozens of such cases of ( what I like
to call ) :
CRIMES OF
OMISSIONS [ as
against “ Crimes
of Commissions “ ]
Following owe
their existence to such “ Crimes
of Omissions “ :
Millions of
Indians die PREMATURE DEATH every year , due to :
>
Water and Air Pollution
>
Dowry ( Bride burning )
>
Child Labour
>
Occupational Hazards ( Chemical / Coal / Cement industries )
>
Miscarriage / Abortions / Pregnancy deaths
>
Smoking / Tobacco chewing
>
Junk Food / Adulterated Food
>
Daru ( liquor ) laced with ethyl alcohol
>
Fake Medicines............................etc
And who are
responsible for keeping 28.7 Crores of Indians illiterate ( 37 % of World's
illiterate ) , 66 years after independence ?
Is that
because ,
>
" CRIMES OF OMISSIONS " are taken for granted ?
>
Deaths due to such Acts are treated as " NATURAL " ( not preventable
) ?
>
Politicians don't think talking about these , will get votes ?
>
Media could not care less ! TRP is all that matters for getting Ad
revenue
>
Cursing others is easier than persevering for the possible ?
==================================
To hold every
Public Servant “ accountable “ for causing hurt / damage to any
citizen
, what we urgently need is a “ Service Liability Act ( Govt
Employees ) 2019 “ , which clearly spells out :
# Extent of hurt / damage
Minor
injuries / Temporary-permanent Disabilities
/ Deaths
# Coverage
Individual
Citizen / Community / Entire Country
# Time Frame
Short
term / Medium Term / Long Term
# Economic Impact on
the Sufferers
Mild
( loss of money ) / Medium ( loss of assets ) / Severe (
loss of earning capacity )
# Cause
· Negligence
( abdication of responsibility ) / Indecisions on part of a Public Servant
· # Poor but honest
decisions
·
Mala-fide decisions ( with pecuniary gains for decision taker )
Here is my Conceptual Frame Work for an Online Rating Form :
=========================================================
SLAM : Service Liability
Assessment Matrix
(
an online form / Mobile App , for rating by citizens )
=========================================================
Dear Citizen :
Following news
just got reported in Media . Please rate it by appropriate selection :
Metal staircase with live wires electrocuted 2
boys
=========================================================
|
Assessment Parameter |
Weightage |
Most (5) |
Certain (4) |
Possible(3 ) |
Negligible(2) |
Least ( 1 ) |
|
Extent of Hurt |
20 % |
|||||
|
Coverage |
30 % |
|||||
|
Time Frame |
10 % |
|||||
|
Economic Impact |
30 % |
|||||
|
Perception ( Most likely reason for
mishap ) |
10 % |
TOTAL :
{ Call it “ AQ
= Anger Quotient “ or “ WS
= Wrath Score “ }
=========================================================
Let the Service Liability Act ( Proposed )
, prescribe various levels of punishments ( for Govt Employee/s , determined
responsible for the root-cause of this
mishap )
A certain time
period may be prescribed for the citizens to fill up the form for each mishap
If , my
proposal sounds too REVOLUTIONARY / RADICAL ( even for our bold and decisive, PM ), then , to begin with, some NGO (
eg : ADR ? ) may consider implementing this on its own , to create awareness
and to educate the public in airing their opinion / feedback , on what lapses
they see around them , everyday
=======================================================
Hemen
Parekh
www.HemenParekh.ai / 17
June 2024
Related
Reading :
Why no murder charge
on civic body chief in Rajkot gaming zone fire case:
HC .. TOI …07 June 2024
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