466. The Chief Minister

"Kalingarayan! When Chenniappan was my Chief Minister, I refrained from interfering in his administration. He had been telling me that he was taking many steps for the welfare of our people. But the feedback I got from the intelligence service was that people were undergoing a lot of suffering under his administration and were consequently unhappy and angry with the administration. That was why I dismissed him and appointed you as my Chief Minister. You have been interacting with the government officials and various categories of people, for the past few days. Can you tell me what the situation is, as ascertained by you?" asked the King.

"Your Majesty! What I have learnt through my interactions with various people is that the administration, I mean the Chief Minister who was running the administration, had not fulfilled several basic needs of people" said Chief Minister.

"What are things he had failed to do?"

"For the past two or three years, canals, lakes and tanks had not been desilted. Because of this, flow of water for irrigation was irregular and inadequate. Subsidies for temples, choultries and charities were not properly disbursed. Old and sick people, orphans, poor people, travelers etc, who were being fed by these institutions, had to face starvation and suffering. Adequate medical facilities and other aid were not extended to people affected by the recent epidemic."

"Oh, my God! There have been so many lapses! It was my fault that I had not ensured that these lapses were brought to my notice."

"There is more..."

"No need for you to list more of his lapses. I don't like to hear them."

"No, your Majesty. I listed the things he failed to do. He has also done things which he shouldn't have. I should mention those things too, shouldn't I?"

"What do you mean by things he shouldn't have done?"

"While allocating government work to contractors, he allocated a large number of works to his friends and relatives. He made appointments, by taking bribes from the aspirants. Because of these actions of his, there was a huge loss to the government treasury. Apart from these, he had done many things that caused pain and suffering to people. By prohibiting farmers from selling their produce to the small traders they were usually selling to, and bringing a rule that they should sell their produce only to the big traders specified by the government, he had created a situation where the farmers could sell their produce only to a few big merchants. Because of this, while on the one hand, many small traders lost their business, farmers found themselves at the mercy of the large traders. The large traders bought the produce from the farmers at low prices and sold them to the consumers at high prices. Thus, for the ordinary people, purchasing  food grains at an affordable price became a challenge..."

"I understand. Chenniappan is guilty not only of failing to do what he should have done, but also of doing things he shouldn't have done. When I think of the sufferings caused to my people, by the omissions and commissions of Chenniappan, my heart bleeds. It was a blunder on my part to have not supervised him, after entrusting the responsibility of administration to him. I am giving you the power and responsibility to undo the wrongs done by Chenniappan and take steps to make life easy for our people. But, unlike I was earlier, I will be closely watching the performance of my Chief Minister" said the King, with a smile.

"Yes, Your Majesty. That is what I would like you to do" said the Chief Minister.

Thirukkural
Section 2

Materialism

Chapter 47
Acting After Due Consideration

Verse 466 (in Tamil):

seythakka alla seyak kedum seythakka
seyyAmaiyAnum kedum.

Meaning:

Doing what ought not to be done will cause hardships. Not doing what ought to be done will also cause harm.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'thalaimai amaichchar' by the same author.)

Verse 467
Verse 465