Public debate should precede policy implementation: Aruna Roy

Mangalore, Aug 12 (UNI) Renowned social activist and Magsaysay awardee Ms Aruna Roy today said no policy should be implemented without initiating a public debate on it.

Inaugurating the two-day 17th Triennial All-India Conference and General Body Meeting of Corporation Bank Officer's Organisation (CBOO) here, she said people should have their voice on public policies and debates on public policies should be made mandatory.

In Rajasthan, 66 lakh hectares of land had been allocated to three industrial groups without having any public debate, which was totally a ''arbitrary decision'', she alleged.

The Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sanghatan (MKSS), headed by her, was waging agitation on this grave issue and other issues in that state, she said, adding there should be a national movement on such issues.

She said democracy could survive only when we learn to break silence and vent our protest on various issues concerning the people.

Strongly condemning the attack on Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen in Hyderabad on August nine, Ms Roy said without tolerance there was no meaning for democracy.

She said, ''we have lost sense of brotherhood towards the have nots and the marginalised sections of the society. The representatives of the people do not consider it serious to have discussions on the issues pertaining to last persons of the society.

Individual rights should survive if democracy has to survive, ''she said.

UNI