Uttarakhand Relief Work and Criticism of Govt’s slow response



The very unfortunate natural disaster in Uttarakhand deserved swift and effective rescue operation. Government did act, but many of us thought this response was not enough. On day 2 or 3 I read a newspaper report which said 45 helicopters were employed. I was shocked! Only 45 helicopters! Then there was an advertisement by Prime Minister with his picture, asking citizens to “generously” donate to PM’s relief fund. Does our govt. really lack financial resources? No one believed that.

There was huge debate and criticism of government on the social networking sites. Someone said that we should not criticize because it does no good and we should contribute to PM’s relief fund instead. He said that our criticism is bad. I said the following to him:

Well, we all know that government does deserve some criticism. And we also know that often politicians care to act only when there is some criticism, otherwise they live in their comfort zones. So I don't think criticism is unwarranted in this case also. But at the same time we should help, as rightly pointed out by you. But again, we know this corrupt government does not lack financial resources. All it lacks is some heart. So we should help NGOs who do the real work.

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