Who runs this country (A bilingual program in Marathi & English) : In conversation with IAS Dr Madhav Godbole
Prabodhan Manch Parle
In the last financial year, Prabodhan Manch Parle started accepting contributions from its audience. In the financial year ending March 31, 2018 36 donors contributed in excess of Rs. 2.25 lacs to us. We hope this family of donors continues growing and we look forward to many more contributions in the coming financial year.
Speaker’s Introduction:
Joining the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in the batch of 1959, Dr. Madhav Godbole earned an M.A & Ph.D. and a second M.A. from the Williams College in America, He took voluntary retirement – at the peak of his career – in 1993. In the meanwhile he served as the Secretary in the ministries of Oil & Natural Gas, Urban Development and was at the helm of the Home Ministry during the tumultuous period of end 1992. He also served in the Asian Development Bank in Manila for 5 years. He played important roles in the Enron project and MSEB.
Dr. Godbole is a prolific writer having penned 12 English and 9 Marathi books. Currently he is working on “Indira Gandhi – The Enigmatic Empress”. Some of his English works have been translated into Marathi as well. He has – to his credit – over 400 articles in various English & Marathi periodicals, newspapers and journals.
विषय : “नक्की कोण चालवतं हा देश?”
Topic : Who really runs this country
The society of today presents many contradictions. Judiciary – the ultimate bastion of democracy is vibrant as it plays its role in the recent 2G & Coalgate scams. But while on the one hand celebrity cases seem to get immediate attention – the waitlist in our courts is endless – even as we profess that justice delayed is denied. If we talk of administration – the same authority that is building world class metros in Delhi & Mumbai is unable to provide pothole free roads to the common man anywhere. Ujjwala can liberate women from the perils of smoke filled fule but at the same time we are unable to stop the suicides amongst the farmers. And when it comes to media – one the one hand it ensures justice to Jessica by highlighting her case but on the other hand in the garb of saying “Nation want to know” keeps making irresponsible statements. Last but not the least the political class – we boast of a Lal Bahadur who resigned owning moral responsibility for a train mishap and we also have many a politicians with no morlas who continue to enjoy power inspite of being accused in many crimes.
So as we look t the 4 pillars of this democracy – legislature, executive, judiciary and finally media – we are left thinking as to whether the constitution bestowed them with only authority but what about some responsibility? And in the midst of all this – the economy that is amongst the fastest growing in the world and continues to do so – we are left wondering : Who really runs this country?
This time we have a slightly varied format and will have a dialogue with our eminent speaker instead of the usual one.
Our appeal
In our second year of accepting public funding, we appeal to all our audience to contribute generously to our cause.
In case you have missed the opportunity of listening to our esteem speaker live, here's your link to the YouTube upload:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oInUbyIk9wc
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