Power Without Responsibility

A State Health Minister says, “I cannot be expected to know about the state of affairs in all the state-run hospitals.” A State Forest Minister says, “I cannot stop tree felling in all the reserved forests.”

These are the words of people who have been given power to protect and maintain a certain asset or service of the state. They have the power, but apparently they are not aware of their responsibilities.

In the first case, 23 infants died due to labour-room infection in the state-run SAT hospital in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. A seemingly indifferent Health Minister, P K Sreemati, washed her hands off saying there were quite a few state-run hospitals, and she could not be responsible for what’s happening in all these hospitals.

I understand … But then, why is she the State Health Minister in the first place?

To quote the Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare, Anbumani Ramdoss on the same issue, "This is a state issue and it's entirely the problem of the state government. The Kerala government will handle the issue. The incident happened in a state government hospital and health is a state issue."

Fine, then why should there be a Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare? May be he’ll take care of the Family Welfare part.

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In the second case, large-scale illegal tree felling in Assam’s reserved forests was reported by a news channel. When brought to the notice of the State Minister of Forest, he shamelessly declared in front of the camera that it is impossible to prevent such incidences. Great! Another case of ignorance or feigned ignorance of one’s responsibilities!

I can understand his plight. How can he take responsibility for such a vast forest area? Why don’t we divide it into parts and assign one minister for each?

Power comes with responsibility. There is no such thing as power without responsibility – or so I thought! :-)