Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Waiting For A Messiah

India as a nation has travelled a long way in the path of progress. It has achieved a lot in certain spheres & also speedily emerging as a strong global economic power & is on its way to a super power status. We as Indians feel a sense of pride in its upward march. But our joy becomes short lived, when we see the plight of the common man & find ourselves utterly helpless to fight against a heavily flawed & corrupt system which believes in ‘self’ before ‘service’, a government which does not think itself accountable to the very public from whom it draws its power to stay in the saddle; a government machinery which is apathetic to public grievances.


The sensible common man feels ashamed to call himself the citizen of a country where millions live under poverty level, where farmers have to commit suicide due to failure of crops or because of their inability to repay the loans, where women don’t feel it safe to venture out for fear their modesty being outraged, where villagers are yet to see electricity or have roads that connect their village to other places, where people die on the streets unattended & uncared for, where girl child are killed before they are born, where brides are burnt alive for want of dowry; where all children do not get an access to education; where children meet untimely death while working in hazardous industries; where there is not adequate medical facilities for all; where politicians of all hues are busy in playing dirty games of politics of caste, creed, communalism & regionalism; where young men & women are driven to despair due to unemployment; where one forgets that he is an Indian first & then a Bengali, a Marathi, a Gujarati, a Tamil or a Telegu; where teachers make education a saleable commodity & educational institutions are nothing but factories for churning out degree holders & not substantial human beings; where doctors love to forget the Hippocratic oath they had taken at the time of getting their degrees, where the media neglects its role as the keepers of public interest & knows only how to raise its TRP by igniting fire & does not know how to douse it, where every other day innocent lives are lost due to terrorist attacks & where justice gets dragged on or never delivered. The list is long & endless. How can a common man be happy & feel proud, when our country is infested with so many diseases that are enough to drown his spirits & drive him to despair?


Some among us like to attribute the causes for the condition of our country to a flawed system of West Minister type of Parliamentary Democracy & find fault with our Constitution. Some think the American style of Presidential form of Government is the panacea that can heal all the diseases, our country is infested with.


All of us, more or less, know the ‘what’s & ‘why’s of the problems. But we do not know the answer to ‘hows. How can we root out the diseases? Who will prescribe the cures? Should we have to wait for another ‘Mahatma Gandhi’ who will unite us again to join a struggle for freedom – this time not from the foreign yoke but from the corrupt leaders whose lack of vision & greed have landed our country in such a mess & cure the maladies of our system? Or should we await the arrival of a Messiah like Lord Krishna, who by His sermons wake up us from our deep slumber of complacency of a ‘chalta hai’ attitude to rise & fight against injustice? Or in the absence of any suitable & ideal role model to follow, should we consider ourselves becoming our own role models to take up cudgels against the ills that, we think, are deterrent to our progress as a welfare state in true sense?


In the mean time, while we are busy in deciding which option to adopt, I want to share some suggestions for your kind appraisal. But before that I want to make it clear, with utmost respect to them, who find all that are bad in our parliamentary democracy or in our constitution & everything that is good in American system of Presidential form of Government, that the Geo-Socio- Political situation of America is far different from India & whatever reform we want to bring out, we have to do it keeping in view the ground realities of our country.

There are some specific areas like foreign affairs & diplomatic relations, where the government must enjoy some liberty. But even in these areas, public can exert enough influence on the government to honour the will of the public. There are some issues like female foeticide & dowry death, which mere law can not check. Public awareness is required to check it.


As we all know that the main enemy of our country is the corrupt politicians. We must begin with cleansing the system by flushing out the corrupt elements from the political atmosphere of our country. For that reform is needed in the electoral system. The People’s Representation Act must be amended to incorporate in it the following clauses (a) every candidate must at least be a graduate to become an MLA or an MP. (b) There must be a retirement age, maximum 65 years for a representative,(c)Candidates with criminal history or criminal cases pending against him can not fight an election (d) Candidates must give a written declaration to the effect that in the event of his failure to deliver the goods or failure to prove his accountability for his acts of omissions & commissions before the very people, his candidature will become cancelled. (e) a representative must remain present in the legislature & participate in the discussions while it is in session.


Multi party system is a bane for healthy functioning of a government. It is the breeding ground of corruption, like horse trading, nepotism, appeasement against blackmailing by smaller regional parties. Regional parties must not be allowed to fight election for Parliament. There should be a bi-party system at the centre. So that there will be one party ruling at the centre & the other party will act as a responsible opposition. Which will not only check the excesses of the government but also will remain ever ready to take up the reigns from the party in power in the event of its fall on the floors of the Parliament. (In England, the opposition is called as ‘Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition’. The opposition there, acts like a shadow government with its shadow cabinet that considers every aspect of the country’s governance, & remains prepared to take up charges from the party in power without having to start anew from the beginning) The opposition should not oppose the government only for opposition’s sake. Its criticism must be constructive & in the interest of the country.


There are a host of other important issues like Abolition of Reservation, a Uniform Civil Code for all communities, A Uniform Marriage, Divorce & Inheritance Law for all communities, To amend the Constitution to incorporate Right to Employment in the Fundamental Rights, to amend the Constitution to abolish Art. 370, to end the special status accorded to Kashmir & bring the Kashmiri people to Indian mainstream & under one law of the land, so that no separate I.Pc & Cr.Pc. be applicable to it.


The government must not be allowed to play the politics of appeasement to the minority community in the name of secularism. When every citizen is entitled to enjoy equal rights under the constitution, how can a certain section of people be called as minority on the basis of their religion? The politics of appeasement creates suspicion against the intention of the government & poisons the atmosphere with mutual doubt & hatred between the two communities & further alienates the Indian Muslims to become a part of the Indian mainstream.


After patiently bearing with me so far, you might be thinking about where is the ‘HOW”. I am coming to it. We are all busy people. We have to take care of our jobs. We have to look after our family. We have our own axe to grind. Who cares, what happens to our country or our fellow beings. Sixty long years have passed due to our lethargy & indifference. We can not waste any more time. We have to take the first step in the right direction. We have to make some sacrifices by way of our precious time & energy. We have to spare a few hours every week in raising awareness among the people by conversing with them while doing the daily round of the market, while taking tea in the office canteen or while visiting a friend or attending a function. The word of mouth can spread like bush fire. We can form small groups where we can have discussions on various issues. There are many good writers among us who can spread awareness though their articles & blogs. If newspapers do not want to accept & publish our individual articles, we can send them forum resolutions by way of news items. At first it will not be so easy, but with patience, we can move in the right direction & generate considerable support for the cause. It will spread like a bush fire & take the shape of a voice of the public. No politician & no government can go on ignoring the just demands of the public for ever. We have a very effective weapon in our hand in the form of a ballot paper. The awareness created by our efforts will make this weapon, ’the ballot paper’ more powerful in the next election. These are some of the areas where we can achieve considerable success by our sustained efforts.


Your kind participation in the discussion & feed backs by way of your comments will go a long way in achieving success in changing the system. One plus one will make eleven. It may appear like the wishful thinking of some old fogies who day dream sitting comfortably in their ivory towers. But believe me Rome was not built in a day. Our combined sustained effort towards our goal will one day give us the taste of the fruit of our labour.


Thank you all.

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