The plethora of articles and
reports on the state of the nation, post the traumatic incident of rape has
compelled the denizens of this nation to look inwards. The papers are flooded
with suggestions and advice on how to go about life in the aftermath of this
ghastly incident. Capital punishment, castration and public flogging are some
of the most common suggestions doing the rounds. And rightly so, sweet pills can never be
effective deterrents.
A though provoking piece in the
Times on date castigated the city government on merely focussing on building
flyovers and not on controlling crime or improving the law and order. The
writer hit the nail almost on the head, almost because flyovers are also as
much a necessity as the need for a safer living environment. Yet the writer is
right, merely building infrastructure is not what nation building is all about.
That there is a sea of a
difference between a nation building exercise and mere building of civic
infrastructure and providing consumer goods in plenty, is a thought that is yet
to find appreciation amongst people who shoulder the major responsibility of leading
this nation. The lop sided approach has led to a scenario wherein we have a
swanky capital city that is unsafe and also houses, perhaps the most corrupt governance
establishment in the world, as has been fairly exposed in recent times.
Is nation building sans character indeed possible, I wonder. Is mere adequacy of civil infrastructure and consumer
goods a sign of a nation having arrived? Is a scenario that showcases both
abject poverty as well as stinking riches, acceptable? And finally, does a
tantra that fends and feeds on itself qualify as a democratic governance
machinery?
While it is apparent that the
answer to all these and many more such questions is in the negative, yet the
inability of all those who matter to first appreciate and then take corrective
steps is indeed sad as well as deplorable.
A thoroughly corrupt and inept governance
machinery sends a powerful message across the nation that it is indeed the
right thing to make money on the side and that delivery does not really matter.
The recent incidents of rape that are coming to the fore are reflective of a
society that in the absence of a clear direction and control has gone astray.
Perhaps the lack of priority accorded for education immediately after our tryst
with destiny has led to stifling of delivery mechanisms and emergence of a
society sans value systems.
A society, the constituents of
which expect others to build the country will rarely gallop. Each one of us has
to play our roles genuinely and with commitment and only then the collective
shall prosper is a thought that needs to go deep into our psyches for the
nation to really emerge from the shadows.
The nation is in the state of doldrums. But it also marks the begining of a new revolution. What else do you expect in a country, where public representatives have no time for the public, but are busy in filling their pockets and lockers.
ReplyDeleteProtests are not enough in such a situation. The rebels are already out with their own small ways to mark the begining of new revolution.
Akale hei chal diye hei hum tau tufaan se takrane. Agar na bhi mil paye manzil or chut jaye bich mei hei yeh saans, tau bhi tu es lau ko bujhne na dena.
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