Once upon a time there was a king. His kingdom had severe shortage of water. People used to suffer and die because of lack of water. One great architect built a huge reservoir of water. The citizens became happy as they could get sufficient water. Few goons started misusing the water for making an addictive drug. The people in the kingdom started getting addicted. The king was sad and angry. He decided to stop this completely. What he was doing was for the good for his citizens. The King told his ministers to stop this misuse at any cost. The brilliant ministers made a law called PCPNDT namely “Public control and prevention of Drugs & toxins (Misuse) Act”.
The ministers decided to make provisions to keep strict vigilance on the usage of water. Ultimately it was water that was misused. They made a stringent law. Any slightest violation of the law amounted to imprisonment and jail. So the intelligent ministers made following rules under the law:
• Every person who fetches water will first register by paying money and not fetch water without registration.
• Every person shall keep an accurate account of the amount of water used for every purpose measured in accurate manner in a prescribed format on daily basis and report online… that too before using the water. Thus a mother was supposed to first to do all administrative work before giving a glass of water to her child.
• Every person who fetches the water will keep his head and face uncovered so that his face shall be captured by the camera.
• Every person shall carry two boards of specific size in two languages in one hand stating that he shall not use the water for making the drug from the water. In the other hand the person shall carry the original license (no lamination allowed) and take care that the water is not spilt on it.
• Every person shall have a container only of a defined size, shape and colour.
The law was implemented. Everybody applauded the king for the great objective of the law. Still there were stories of addictive drug being available at places. Some addicts were willing to pay any price for the drug. There were some antisocial elements who were still making the drug and selling it at a steep price. The social workers made a big hue and cry and they were right. The next generation was getting addicted ultimately. Some social workers went to the extent that they wrote a letter to the king stating that the reservoir of water be shut so that there is no water for drinking … so that there will be no misuse of water. The king was kind enough not to listen to them but he got angry. He directed his officers to be very strict with the implementation of the law. The patriotic officers were working for the betterment of the country. Besides that there was a monetary incentive to find out the law breakers. Every body who was fetching the water was scrutinised and the paper work was checked thoroughly. For every smallest mistake in the paper work, cases were filed and arrests were made. The offenders were punished and put in the jail. The officers did not care whether the citizens were dying without water or otherwise. The officers reported to the king about efficient implementation of the law and gave an account of offenders that were booked and jailed. Actually no one was caught red handed while selling or making the drug. To tell you the truth they did not have a spy network or some mechanism for actually searching out the drug makers or pedellars. Most of the citizens that were booked were for faulty papers work. Some were arrested because they did not have a specific container, some were arrested because they first drank the water and then filled up the form and some were arrested because the license got wet. One person was arrested because his license to fetch the water had expired but the officer had delayed the renewal. And the man had to fetch water for daily chore. Now a mother would have to measure the water drunk by her child. The elderly and sick who could not go to the reservoir themselves or could not hold the container, boards and license at a time in two hands, could not get water at all.
Friends what do you think? Was the king right in making such a law? Would these mindless bureaucratic provisions work to solve the real problem? Will it not be better to improve the spy network and actually find out the real offenders?
If you think that the king should have understood this, then it is high time that you understand why doctors are agitating against the PCPNDT Act. Of course I am talking about the Pre-conceptional and prenatal diagnostic technique Act.
Dr Nikhil D Datar
Gynaecologist and Patient rights activist