“Policy-making lacks long term vision”

What is good for a particular place may not be so for another place: Gopalakrishna Gandhi

July 06, 2012 04:19 am | Updated 04:19 am IST - CHENNAI:

Former West Bengal Governor Gopalakrishna Gandhi on Thursday regretted that politics and policy-making lacked a long term vision. “The short-termisms of public policy and of corporate strategy have given us a dangerous myopia,” Mr. Gandhi said.

Launching a book containing various articles by renowned wildlife columnist M. Krishnan titled ‘Of birds and bird songs’, Mr Gandhi said if what seemed good for now need not be so for tomorrow. “What is good for a particular place may not be so for another place. Similarly, what is comfortable for us in the short run may not be good for us in the middle and long run. Politics and policies are now tragically short-termist,” he said.

Recalling his association with M. Krishnan, Mr Gandhi said 45 years ago he was once invited to Mr Krishnan’s house.

He happened to see two wooden cornices there and was awe-struck by the wooden plank that depicted flying birds. Mr Gandhi said many may not know that Mr. Krishnan was a highly hand-skilled person. He was an intellectual and a workman, “a writer who carpented, a documenter who calligraphed, drew and photographed.”

Mr Krishnan had created his own envelopes. A small rectangle of sky blue to the envelope’s top left had an impressionistic white bird resembling a seagull drawn by him. The word ‘Par Avion’ in his own handwriting flew out into the drawing. Mr Gandhi said he had preserved some of the envelopes.

As a naturalist, Mr Krishnan knew that the future of life on the planet is as much about its flora and fauna as its human population, Mr Gandhi added. The articles of Mr Krishnan were edited by Shanthi and Ashish Chandola, well-known wildlife cinematographers, writers and photographers.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.