The Question of Eligibility
The word 'eligibility' means 'the quality or state of being eligible'. The synonyms that best suit this word as per the dictionary are 'fitness', 'qualification', 'suitability', 'suitableness', 'worthiness' etc.
Each of one of us is consciously or unconsciously applying this word in our day to day life. People who would like to enter into business partnerships, parents wanting to get their children married, companies scouting for staff for different positions, schools admitting children to kindergarten courses, management and engineering colleges conducting entrance exams, UPSC for selecting aspirants into different administrative services, sports authorities enabling someone to participate in sports and games to represent the nation, banks opening savings and current accounts for applicants, gas companies for giving gas connections, mobile companies for providing connectivity and you name it, everyone is constantly on the look out for the so called 'ELIGIBILITY' of the individual concerned.
Several schools have gone step ahead and even conduct eligibility tests for the parents of kindergarten-ready child as if they are the ones who are going to study in the school. Does anyone know if Einstein's parents were educated at all? Well, that is altogether a different subject. The crux of the matter is there is an eligibility clause for everything that happens around us. A doctor cannot practice, a lawyer cannot argue in a court of law, a driver cannot drive on the roads, a pilot cannot fly unless they are eligible or made to be eligible by a legal and approved authority.
When we lay so much emphasis on eligibility of an individual to provide or seek a service, why is it that our political parties and the whole nation of voters seem to ignore this one word when it comes to persons contesting in the elections? The only eligibility criterion are one has to be a citizen of India, should have completed so and so age, should not have more than two children, one wife etc.
Gone are the days when the wealthy and honest embraced political life and lost all their properties while serving the public. It is still fresh in my memory when I used to hear that someone entered politics and lost all his money in the process during the late 70's while I was still a kid. Today, we find all sorts of bad 'elements' entering and ruling in political arena just by sheer force of ill-gotten money and muscle power or through 'deadly' inheritance. People involved in shady land deals and illegal activities of all sorts, rowdy sheeters, liquor dealers, and people with vested business interests are all into politics in the name of serving public. The list is unending to say the least.
While it is difficult to fix the eligibility norms for serving the public at large, at least political parties should stick to the principle of not allowing any of the above mentioned persons to contest the elections. The credibility of an individual grows along with the individual as he ages and is not something that can be earned in a day. So the responsible parties should check the credentials of the individual from the respective constituency before admitting s/he into the party or allowing him/her to contest the elections. After all, elections and positions are completely about serving the public at any cost and nothing else.
If all this is found to be cumbersome, the easiest thing is to eliminate the bad elements just as a house wife removes the 'matti beddalu ' (small black stones as known in Telugu) from the rice she wants to cook for the day. If the whole rice is full of such black stones, then time has come to change the staple food, in this case, the whole system of electoral process and the way political parties organize themselves, for the society to remain healthy, stable and also ELIGIBLE to be called CIVILISED. In the absence of such ELIGIBILITY, we will only be a commercial super power without any fundamental inherent strength.
Each of one of us is consciously or unconsciously applying this word in our day to day life. People who would like to enter into business partnerships, parents wanting to get their children married, companies scouting for staff for different positions, schools admitting children to kindergarten courses, management and engineering colleges conducting entrance exams, UPSC for selecting aspirants into different administrative services, sports authorities enabling someone to participate in sports and games to represent the nation, banks opening savings and current accounts for applicants, gas companies for giving gas connections, mobile companies for providing connectivity and you name it, everyone is constantly on the look out for the so called 'ELIGIBILITY' of the individual concerned.
Several schools have gone step ahead and even conduct eligibility tests for the parents of kindergarten-ready child as if they are the ones who are going to study in the school. Does anyone know if Einstein's parents were educated at all? Well, that is altogether a different subject. The crux of the matter is there is an eligibility clause for everything that happens around us. A doctor cannot practice, a lawyer cannot argue in a court of law, a driver cannot drive on the roads, a pilot cannot fly unless they are eligible or made to be eligible by a legal and approved authority.
When we lay so much emphasis on eligibility of an individual to provide or seek a service, why is it that our political parties and the whole nation of voters seem to ignore this one word when it comes to persons contesting in the elections? The only eligibility criterion are one has to be a citizen of India, should have completed so and so age, should not have more than two children, one wife etc.
Gone are the days when the wealthy and honest embraced political life and lost all their properties while serving the public. It is still fresh in my memory when I used to hear that someone entered politics and lost all his money in the process during the late 70's while I was still a kid. Today, we find all sorts of bad 'elements' entering and ruling in political arena just by sheer force of ill-gotten money and muscle power or through 'deadly' inheritance. People involved in shady land deals and illegal activities of all sorts, rowdy sheeters, liquor dealers, and people with vested business interests are all into politics in the name of serving public. The list is unending to say the least.
While it is difficult to fix the eligibility norms for serving the public at large, at least political parties should stick to the principle of not allowing any of the above mentioned persons to contest the elections. The credibility of an individual grows along with the individual as he ages and is not something that can be earned in a day. So the responsible parties should check the credentials of the individual from the respective constituency before admitting s/he into the party or allowing him/her to contest the elections. After all, elections and positions are completely about serving the public at any cost and nothing else.
If all this is found to be cumbersome, the easiest thing is to eliminate the bad elements just as a house wife removes the 'matti beddalu ' (small black stones as known in Telugu) from the rice she wants to cook for the day. If the whole rice is full of such black stones, then time has come to change the staple food, in this case, the whole system of electoral process and the way political parties organize themselves, for the society to remain healthy, stable and also ELIGIBLE to be called CIVILISED. In the absence of such ELIGIBILITY, we will only be a commercial super power without any fundamental inherent strength.
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