Lads

Lads

hear, hear, all ya crowd
zoomin' in
to proclaim loud
once again
one's views on a governmental scheme
which only serves
to feed a team:

its called
LADS
its here in india
(egad, egad)
(as in cringe, cringe)

- all it does is
push to the fringe
all the work
meant for a legislator
while the holder of the seat
invests all their time and energy, goodwill and zeal
to oversee
the doling out of moolah
(legally, with criteria, and transparently)
for works be done
in the micro region
for
what
the state administration should be doin':

led by proper consultations
- also known
as
effective local government
is what should be happening
instead.

a small road here, a bridge there, or a culvert that might need repair.
these are the things that this scheme entails
keeping legislatures occupied with micro trails.

justified mainly by the honest MPs (and MLAs)
who need to stay in touch
with the people
without spending money
even if nobody's being selective
or getting predictive
about who gets these little contracts.

On two counts, i've always rejected this scheme:
it's the first big hindrance to pushing the local government theme
plus
when it comes to within
political parties
it puts the
sitting member
at an odd sort of advantage
over other types of candidates
who speak to and for the mass
but whose troops cannot afford
to be the volunteer class.

time to do away
with the Local Area Development Scheme!

By V. Shruti Devi (quill-o-the-wisp)