Elections on anvil for voters' will

Election on anvil
Drives political thrill
Snatches voters' will

With News-mill & Public-life-at-spill
Politicians relish a delicious kill
Without respite to electoral bill

Elections are on anvil.
Elections usually drive political mills that snatch voters' will.
Mushrooming News items drive people's businesses and boost marketing zeal.
It's an opportunity to spill public-life that provides politicians with a delicious kill.

One of the employees of a company I am associated with couldn't get renewal of license done. As a result the material that had governmental controls couldn't be available within desired time. It's operations got affected for over a month.

What is the loss and cost in the process?

Profitability of the suppliers affected.
Profitability of the supply-chain itself affected due to delayed supplies.
Inflation up due to enhanced demand-supply gap.
Reduced income to daily-waged labour.
Above all reduced income to national exchequer itself due to lost GDP numbers.

This is about corporate life that has impact on public-life as well in terms of inflation.

But what about direct hit to public-life due to absence of government staff in offices under the pretext of 'Election-Duty'.

Someone goes to rationing department and finds staff on 'Election-Duty'.
Someone goes to get domicile certificate and finds staff on 'Election-Duty'.
Someone goes to University department to find staff on 'Election-Duty'.
Someone goes to school to find even teaching staff on 'Election-Duty'.

Last year even exams got postponed around the vote-counting day. 

Under normal circumstances the machinery at least functions sometimes if you are ready to move your papers yourself from table to table for 'babu's signatures. Under circumstances such as 'Election-Duty', the machinery doesn't function even at snail's pace, that too officially. You may run from pillar to post. It'll all be in vain. 

All this at higher cost. Cost of wasted time. Cost of fuel and energy to run from pillar to post. Cost of overtime paid for Election-Duty. Cost of compensatory paid-holiday for Election-Duty. 

Not that staff loves Election-Duty for these benefits. In fact they don't. Because they have to report there in-time. Stay there full-time and do work: Search names, make slips, put stamps, take thumb impressions, tally the whole process, count votes, etc. etc. No 'escape' route. 

Anyway, why should public suffer at such extra cost? 

Isn't there a lot of scope for planning and organising? 

By the time we guess so, let's hope that the Voter-turnout improves and the voter votes for corruption-free governance, stability, growth and prosperity.

Here's a MaiKu© i. e. My-Haiku on elections.

Opposition in a nightmare
Over the glass that politicians share
Shaking hands on voter's care

In Marathi

घेउ तूला अन् मला
पण देउ नको त्याला
माथी राजकारणी खलबतं, हाती मद्दाचा प्याला

In Malvani (Konkani)

घेवया तूका आनि माका
पन घालू नको त्येका
दारूच्या गुत्तात राजकारणी सोडीना हेका

©MaiKu Is My-Haiku
Freely ideate it's poetic rhymes
Any objective topic it chimes

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder:

ABCD of India Shining

Do you know a Best-Career-Plan

Take your career in fast lane!

Succession-Plans In Fast Lane! 

Make It Simpler, Rest Will Follow

How To Make A Difference

Do You Cleanup-After-Crisis

Raam or Krishna-Shyam: Tell me Hey Raam!

Some Moron ! Some Great !!!

That's How Morons Work

Ridiculous Poison-culture versus Maverick Kaizen-culture

Tolerate Once, Twice, Thrice?

WOW Work-Culture: By Telling or Selling

Customer or Custo-Mer? 

An Experience of Heart-and-Soul

Less With More And More Gets Sore

Discrimination-is-Cremation of Law-&-Order (Part-1)

See the picures and decide for yourself who is cremating the law.

Picture-1 & 2: A two-wheeler and a private vehicle is being towed away by RTO authorities from 'No-Parking' zone. This is a welcome move. Towing sub-contractors seem to do their duty diligently since business to them is on piece-rate basis. 

Picture-3: Vehicles of illegal businesses (three-&-four-wheelers that can be seen in red circle) are however ignored. In fact, the towing vehicle was prompt enough to 'somehow' pull a two-wheeler crammed between three-wheelers parked in the red circled zone on left of the picture.

Picture-4 gives a perspective. All the pictures were taken on same road on 19 th August at around 14.00 hours within a span of about 60 minutes.

Illegal businesses that can be seen in picture-3 (at yellow arrow mark) had actually sprung up over a couple of decades on municipality-plot reserved for a first-aid-center.

Why such discrimination of law-&-order? Why vehicles of the illegal businesses are ignored for instance in spite of being parked in 'No-Parking' zone?

If one looks at the pictures with keen eyes many more questions might spring up that throw light on discriminatory practices. 

Why had the municipality in the first place ignored sprouting up of illegal businesses that too on their own plot?

Obviously because of their political connections that help them enjoy all the utility support including electricity, water and even emergency services such as fire-brigade at the cost of law-abiding citizens. No rules or permissions such as that required for a legal business or a legal housing complex apply there.

Why there is no tree-cover on road while compound-walls of housing societies adjacent to it are full of greenery (as in picture-1&4)?

Obviously because no one cares for trees on road. It's a no-man's land. No doubt that municipality had planted saplings but without making adequate watering-arrangement. During my evening walks I used to carry water-bottles in order to water the saplings but in vain. Haphazardly parked trucks that repeatedly ran over the saplings were the culprit. This can be seen in red-circle in picture-4. 

However later on there was an improvement as can be seen in green-circle in the same picture. You can see a mistake-proof (Pokayoke in Kaizen parlor) divider for saplings which prevents parked vehicles from running over saplings. Never-the-less there is a good action that should have actually been thought about 15-years ago. Gemba-Kaizen action there could have triggered such improvements. I had suggested this to the Municipality as a part of ALM (Advanced-Locality-Management) while counselling them but in vain.

Why footpath on one side is not made-up yet?

I may sound negative here particularly when aggregates for the footpath can be seen laid there. Actually this footpath had been lying unmade since over 5-years when the other-side was made perhaps claiming bills for measurements of both the sides then. Such mal-practices did happen in past.

I have a few such pictures taken over a decade including that of ignorance of maintenance of street-lights, corrupt officers taking bribes, etc.  

Picture-5 for instance was taken on 28 th February 2011 when there was a fire in this illegal 'business-district', more than once at that. Obviously safety rules  have been flouted there with corresponding authorities turning a blind eye to it. Even trees in the compound got burnt there.

Incidentally, I was a member of a local team that had got this road declared as 'No-Parking' one a few years ago. This was done particularly because the trucks that still get parked there are a nuisance. Early morning they race engines disturbing sleep in the residential zone. 

Not only there have been a few cases of chain-snatching from behind the trucks but also a few accidents. A senior citizen who had no option but to walk on streets due to open gutters on broken footpath had fractured her hand when she got caught between a parked truck and a moving vehicle.

What is intriguing is that corresponding bureaucrats do have authority and corresponding politicians do have power but none seem to exercise that just-in-time (JIT) i.e. at right-place at right-time in right-amount.

Let alone installing amenities such as first-aid-center or trees, obvious basic needs such as eliminating dirty-dangerous-difficult (3-D) situations on footpaths also seems to be taking back seat behind their vested interests. Face-lifting at the time of elections however is always prompt while COPQ (Cost-Of-Poor-Quality) incurred due to such criminal acts gets conveniently forgotten.

God save India and Indians!