Interview
Kanchan Banerjee talks to a new president of AAPI, Dr Sunita Kanamury, whose key goal is to involve maximum number of 2nd generation physicians.
Dr. Kanumury hails from Rourkela, Orissa and came to the US with a fellowship at the RWJMS School in New Jersey. She joined AAPI in the year 1994. Motto of joining the organization was to meet people, network and be part of a very important organization by the Indian-American community.
What difference do you see in AAPI today compared to the time when you joined?
In those days most of the members were from India. Now the involvement of younger generation physicians is making a huge difference. Unlike some other ethnic group, the 2nd and 3rd generation is fully involved with AAPI. We are more involved with legislators to address our concerns. We also address many issues affecting the Indian-American community at large.
Prafulla Samantra is one of the national conveners of National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM). He has been actively participating in various democratic people’s movements to protect human rights, environment and right to livelihood of millions in Odisha and elsewhere in the country. His mission is to have alternative development that is sustainable development to replace the present economic models of high consumerism and greed. Samntara is actively mobilizing people to create opinion against destruction of forest, agricultural land, water resources, indiscriminate mining in the name of development. He is involved in various people’s movement against big corporations, who are plundering natural resources.
Nearly a third of MPs – 158 of 543 – in Parliament face criminal charges. Seventy-four of them face serious charges such as murder and abduction. Don’t you think India’s democracy is facing serious challenges?
Yes, India’s democracy is facing different challenges from time to time but I am optimistic that with some checks and balances these challenges can be effectively tackled and criminals can be kept away from the legislature.
Elections are due in many states next year. How much is the election commission geared up?
We are always ready for conducting elections. For those state assemblies which are due for elections, we start the preparations well ahead of time, generally a year in advance. We are already touring the states for reviewing the preparedness and issuing necessary instructions to the election machinery.
India's strength has always been its vibrant democracy. But the imposition of Emergency in 1975 struck at the very core of their ideal. It was perhaps the darkest period in the history of Independent India. Those who lived through Indira Gandhi's Emergency shudder at what they underwent during the tumultuous times when democracy was trampled as the country virtually became a dictatorship, ironically under a woman whose father Jawaharlal Nehru laid the foundations of that democratic system.
Among those who witnessed those times closely was Mohan Dharia who was imprisoned for 17 months in Nashik jail during the Emergency and proudly says he was the only minister to resign from Indira Gandhi's government in 1975, to protest against her policies.
Only Corrupt should fear Lokpal: Anna Hazare
Anna Hazare reveals why Lokpal is a must, and why the government is shying away from it. Chandran Iyer gives a snapshot of Anna Hazare’s mind after a prolonged interaction.
Since the existing bodies that deal with corruption either have no independence from the government or no teeth to put the independence to good use, the need for Lokpal has become all the more necessary.
This is because there is no truly autonomous or empowered body to deal with corruption cases involving the political class and the bureaucracy. The anti-corruption leader Anna Hazare is optimistic that once Lokpal comes into effect it will drastically bring down the level of corruption that is corroding the society and the political system.Page 4 of 5
