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Reform in the true sense of the word is all right, but 'the Reform' we have been pursuing for the last decade does not augur well with the common man. People of this country held the BJP-led NDA government guilty of cruelty to common man and voted it out as a mode of punishment. Taking cue from this, our new Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is going on reiterating that his Congress-led UPA government would continue with 'the Reform' with 'human face'.

We have been witness to the behaviour of our legislators on Women's Bill which is still pending mainly due to their unwillingness to put the Bill to vote. Only a handful of legislators have been all along opposing it, and majority of the legislators are outwardly in its support, but inwardly do not want to get the Bill passed through voting. They want consensus on this regard while the other Bills have been passed despite more strong and vociferous opposition through the instrument of voting.

It's a dirty trick of the government that made the intelligentsia in its favour on the price front despite the common man's grief who are caught between dwindling income and steep price rise.

The people outside government have always been hopeless, however, with such type of national building exercise. Therefore, there is a longstanding demand that the national building work should start from the bottom, say from the villages and the Panchayats.

One of the five proposed measures for tackling terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, militancy in the North East, and left wing extremism in the various parts of the country is the implementation of recommendation of the Malimath Committee on Criminal Justice Administration. The Ministry of Home, Government of India has recently revealed this intention of the government during a presentation in the department related Consultative Committee of the Parliament. Another proposed measures seeks setting up a 'Federal Agency' to deal with the 'federal crimes.' However, such a measure needs constitutional amendment, which in turn requires building up a consensus among the various political parties.

In general talk most of us including our politicians having clean image are against criminalisation of politics, but in practice we send the criminals in the Parliament in large numbers. Out of 540 MPs of the Lok Sabha we have as many as 135 members having criminal records.

The long cherished dream of getting an institution of the Lok Pal in India seems just a short step away. But we are never sure, for the first Lok Pal Bill was tabled in the Parliament long back in 1968, and over the years , the successive governments talked of the legislation, tabled it six times in the Parliament, and then allowed it to be lapsed.

The government borrowings and expenditures are rising day by day. The ministers, members of the legislature and the officials at the higher level are spending lavishly, and getting maximum benefits from the exchequer. It the state is undergoing a severe financial crunch, and people are suffering, it is because of their inapplication of wisdom.

But it is unfortunate that the proposed Constitutional (Ninety Eighth Amendment ) Bill, 2003 does not envisage tranparancy, independent selection process, or even an independent commission. A reform is much needed in judicial administration that is considered as thoroughly corrupt, but it is being left untouched.

One can argue the very approach of the market economy which is being pursued by our country, is inequitable. The champions of the market economy say that the prices of the goods and services should be decided by the market forces, which means that the prices should be determined by demand and supply.