Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Oct 30: The IIPA J&K Regional Branch, organised a lecture on ‘Accountability of Elected Representatives from Manifesto to Mandate here today. Professor Bhupinder Singh Brar of Punjab University Chandigarh was the key speaker. Vijay Bakaya, MLC and former Chief Secretary, presided over the programme.
Professor Brar while delivering his lecture sought to make a distinction between the mandate for the party and mandate for the elected legislator.
He spoke at length about the utility of the Upper House of Parliament and suggested its re-organisation so as to make it a representative body of different interest groups. Rejecting recall as a means of holding the representatives accountable, he suggested other alternative methods. On the whole, he said that he was not pessimist about the democratic scenario of the country and referred to three recent developments, which reflected a fundamental change in the context of accountability. Of these, the first development was the expansion of print and audio-visual media and the role being played by it in exposing those in power.
The second recent development is the use of communication technologies and the use of sites like Facebook and Twitter, and individual blogs. He explained as to how these sites were being used by individuals in their personal capacity to critique and expose the scams and other wrong doings by the political class. The third development, Prof Brar stated , is the RTI movement. He said that RTI was a very powerful tool in the hands of marginalised people and its full potential will be realised in the times to come.
Mr Bakaya talked at length about the role of media and the civil society organisations in taking up the responsibility of holding the elected representatives accountable. According to him, the media has overstepped its role and has sought to replace the democratic political institutions. He was also critical of the role played by the civil society organisations. He called for restoration of centrality of the democratic institutions.
J B S Johar, Hony Secretary of IIPA, Regional Branch, conducted the proceedings, Professor Rekha Chowdhary introduced the topic and Chander Gulati presented the vote of thanks. The lecture was followed by an interactive session. Prominent among those who participated in the lecture included Dr Ashok Bhan, Chairman IIPA J&K Regional branch, Ashwani Sharma, MLA, Ravinder Sharma, MLC, A.C. Chaturvedi, IPS (Retd), A.M.Watali, Vice Chairman IIPA and Dr. C.M.Seth, Vice Chairman IIPA were present.
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