Partly Facetious: priorities higher than popular concerns

17 May, 2006

"It's damned if you do and damned if you don't."
"I guess, but what are you referring to?"
"The heat wave in the country and the electricity supply available at any given moment in time!"
"Well, if it is hot then consumption goes up and puts a further strain on our fragile system of supply, so to speak."
"Yes, but if we get a dust storm which lowers the temperature then the electricity supply is almost invariably disrupted and..."
"You can't blame Wapda for that. Winds of that magnitude will mess up with the electricity transmission system."
"What I can't understand is that this country has always had heat waves and dust storms. How come our successive governments have done nothing to solve the crisis?"
"Well, if you put it that way then our governments past and present have also known about clean drinking water shortages, were fully aware that drought would hit the country unless corrective measures were taken ten years ago, have known that education and health outlays were and continue to be grossly insufficient to meet..."
"But nothing was done and even today the effort is too little to make a dent."
"Yep."
"Why?"
"Each government has its own priorities."
"None of them were concerned about the people."
"Well yes, they were and continue to be concerned, terribly concerned..."
"But nothing happened."
"Yes but it wasn't due to lack of concern."
"What's the point of concern when nothing happens?"
"Concern shows that democracy is alive and well."
"Oh, you are too full of it. Let me quote the words of Lota Number 1. He wants to privatize Railways."
"That's not a bad idea."
"It's a good idea. It reflects the focus on privatisation, as enunciated by the real power, and..."
"Wouldn't he lose the job he has now if Railways is privatised?"
"Yeah, but then with the largest Cabinet not only in the history of this country but I would imagine in the world, there is no dearth of other jobs out there."
"That is a good point."
"But what does that have to do with anything?"
"Concern over people made him talk about privatisation."
"So?"
"And concern about himself makes him one hell of a loyalist - no challenge to the power."
"Ah yes - that's the way the cookie crumbles."

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