A Nation failing to protect dignity of women

The nation jumps, every time a woman is raped and it jumps rather high when the case is a high profile one as in the latest UBER taxi rape case in the capital. While immediate action that was taken leading to the arrest of the rapist is commendable this time and also on previous occasions, the malaise unfortunately continues unabated. Sadly every day the newspapers invariably carry at-least one new horror story of school girls being raped, toddlers being violated or working women being molested, and so it remains, merely one new story for the masses to read and forget.

The Nirbhaya gang rape case of 2012 had indeed jolted the nation into action that manifested more on the streets of Delhi than in any substantive real action. While the level of punishment for such offences increased, it miserably failed to deter the would-be rapist in carrying out his heinous acts as can be witnessed almost every day. Perhaps such cases are indicative of the contempt in which we hold our women regardless of the rhetoric that is often mouthed by almost all strata and segments of the society. The extent of involvement in sleazy activities by even those who were till then highly regarded as a spiritual guru by many is indicative of the low that the society has plummeted to. 

I wish I am wrong, but perhaps the national inability to uphold the dignity of the fair sex is borne out of the fact that with rare exceptions, generally the women who face the brunt belong to the economically weaker strata of the society. And the power to make a change lies with the strata that generally remains unaffected and therefore is unable to feel the pain and the anguish of the common citizen. The advocacy of ban on dress considered revealing and placing restrictions on free movement and interaction of the fair sex is an outcome of warped mind-sets that are now emerging in plenty.

And the basic question remains unanswered, why are we failing to put in place a punishment that would act as a deterrent? Why are we failing to put in place a judicial system that can impart swift justice, for that would also act as a deterrent? Why cant governments publicly declare their intent of protecting the dignity of women, irrespective of which strata of society she belongs to. Perhaps the intent is missing and so is the action.

Castration has to be the minimum punishment for anyone even attempting to outrage the modesty of women. And the gravity of the crime should dictate whether the guy additionally goes behind bars for a minimum of  ten years, a lifetime or is hanged. And it would not be uncivilized to put in place such punishments for those who treat women as a body merely meant to be lusted for. Indeed allowing women’s modesty to be outraged in the scale it is happening in our nation is indicative of an uncivilized society proving itself incapable of good governance.

respite for a nation violated

The spate of rapes continues to shame the nation, with the Ulta Pradesh taking the lead but others also not much far behind. The recent incidents at Bangalore made the citizens cry out in unison and our hearts bled, yet there seems to be no respite from this monstrosity.

And how can there be? The Nirbhaya incident of the 16^th of December 2012 jolted the collective conscience of the nation, yet the perpetrators have not paid for the crime that they committed. If this is the state of the case that made everyone – the citizens, the netas, the police and the bureaucrats sit up and take notice, God help us. And therefore the spate of rapes continues undeterred. The absence of swift retribution gives sufficient encouragement to the rapists and the misplaced sense of legal bias for the juvenile encourages him to take in his stride rapes and other criminal activities.

There is a need to cut the rhetoric that we are accustomed to after all such incidents. There is a need and the time for real action, not mere assurances and the new government gives hope. Yet hope shall remain only till such time despair stays away and these recurring incidents with the rapists having a gala time even after the incidents are slowly leading to despair. The situation has nose dived to such levels that some men in power outreach the rhetoric as witnessed from the response and the remarks of the chief minister of Karnataka to ghastly rape incidents in his own capital.

And the so called armchair activists have a field day. The protagonists of the now much maligned juvenile act harp on the advisability of correcting, not punishing the juvenile. I wonder if their response would continue to be the same had some of them faced the trauma of having his or her own daughter violated. What is good for the gander is apparently not good for the geese in this case.

And the response of the rich and the powerful also borders on a sheer lack of concern. After all almost all the beastly incidents are perpetrated on the lower classes, those on the darker side of the financial divide. The tragedy is that those who can make a difference to the system and the society are not affected by the happenings or the surroundings and therefore remain unconcerned. This major  malaise has inflicted the nation in its almost seventy years of independent existence.

Why don’t such incidents happen in Singapore and Dubai. The sheer fear of a deterrent and swift punishment keeps the perpetrators at bay. If small yet highly efficient nations can have a mechanism to deliver swift and sure punishments for crimes committed why cant’ India, a world within the world do so. It is the fear of a heavy and swift punishment that only will keep the rapists away despite what the juvenile supporters profess.

The nation is deeply hurt and aggrieved and would continue to be so till such time our daughters are freely and without fear able to roam on the streets of their own motherland at all times of the day. One lives with the hope that "Acche Din" are not far away.

The injustice of the Juvenile Justice Act

Maneka Gandhi’s statement on juvenile justice and her resolve to bring to book juveniles who rape and murder is indeed music to the ears. I fully endorse the view that a so called kid who is into premeditated rapes and murders can by no stretch of imagination classify as a kid worthy of much reduced punishment. A rape is a rape and a murder is a murder regardless of the age of the person committing it and the perpetrator does not deserve any leniency whatsoever.

India is also home to a plethora of armchair enthusiasts who carry a view on almost all issues under the sun. It is these armchair enthusiasts who so far have been highly vocal against attempts to bring about suitable modifications in the juvenile justice act. I wonder what would be the response of the most vocal armchair enthusiast is his own daughter undergoes a fate akin to Nirbhaya, yet I am reasonably certain that his views would be taking a hundred eighty degree turn.

The Nirbhaya incident of the 16^th of December 2012 shook the collective conscience of the nation. Never before in the history of the republic the citizens emerged from the comfortable confines of their homes on the roads of the capital to protest against the incident. Yet justice is still awaited in this case and with the exception of the guy who committed suicide, the others are still cooling their heels and forever devising ways to delay the noose. The noose however would never await the one who was the most brutal of the lot, for the mere reason that he is a juvenile and therefore classifies for leniency under the juvenile justice act. What a travesty of Justice!

I abhor the double standards that we citizens generally tend to practice. The noose if our own kith and kin is involved and mercy or a total lack of concern if someone else is. I have always admired  instant justice the sunny deol style as witnessed in films and unless the same is implemented in real life scenario, innocents and the weak would continue to suffer.  

Spurred by the cover the act provides, juveniles have also become the favourite actors in cases of terrorism and organized crime. The act has already provided sufficient motivation to crime syndicates to bank on youngsters for their operations in India. During my stint as the head honcho of Delhi division of the railways the biggest headache was the nuisance and crime committed by the below eighteen group at almost all stations and yet we could not do anything in the matter.

For the sake of the society and also for the sake of my family I sincerely hope and pray that Maneka Gandhi does not fail in her efforts. 

Still a long way to the gallows!

The decision of the Delhi High Court upholding the death sentence imposed by the lower court against the convicts of the infamous Nirbhaya rape and murder case of December 2012 was on expected lines. After all the four butchers deserve no mercy and if at all there was any punishment higher than the death penalty it would have also met the cause. Yet there is still a long way to the gallows, an appeal in the apex court followed by a mercy petition to the President is apparently on the cards. Absolutely legal delaying tactics, yet I am convinced that ultimately the perpetrators of the heinous crime would indeed pay back by hanging.

Despite the huge national outcry that followed the ghastly crime and the awarding of the death penalty, rape is not yet off from the daily headlines. Perhaps the reality that the wheels of justice indeed grind slowly in this nation of ours gives enough hope and encouragement to criminals of all hues and shades to carry on with their activities unabated. After all justice is yet to be finally dispensed to the murderers of an ex prime minister of the country and it often appears that perhaps by a quirk of fate they may even escape the noose that they so rightfully deserve.

And therefore crime continues unabated. The retribution for the crime is available only through the judicial system of the country that is definitely fair yet agonizingly slow. And that leads a common citizen to wonder, often at times when he feels threatened, that it may indeed be better for the nation to follow the punishment systems of the middle-east or a developed and almost crime free nation like Singapore where swift and deterrent punishment has almost eliminated crime and ensured adherence to rules.   

And justice delayed is actually justice denied. Even within the bureaucratic machinery punishments for obvious and glaring cases of misconduct as well as malafide take years to settle. Perhaps it is a case of those who can make a change being beyond the system and hence never being able to really appreciate the need for introducing systems that are the need of the times. 

Misplaced compassion is also often a reason. Even the greatest of our religious books, the Gita does not condone misplaced compassion on the underserving. Arjuna who is moved by a bout of compassion when he witnesses his own men poised to fight one another on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, is counselled by the lord to do his duty and not be moved by misplaced compassion.  

“Chalta hai” typically defines our national attitude. Concern only for the self without realizing that our welfare lies only in the welfare of the society, is perhaps the bane of our social system. Sadly confining oneself within the general rules of the society is regarded as a sign of a person who has not really arrived, in total variance with the conduct one witnesses in developed societies. It is indeed sad and a sign of backwardness of our social structure that social hierarchy invariably plays a vital  role in interactions, whether it is between a traffic constable and a bureaucrat in a white ambassador or a man on a bicycle and one in a car.

“Rules are for Fools” and “Might is right” are two proverbs that I came across right at the beginning of my career almost thirty four years ago.  And what a fit they have been. Rules and processes are discarded or applied on a case to case basis to favor or disfavor. It is not like the developed world where yardsticks remain the same irrespective of the power or wealth at the disposal of the individual under consideration and the judicial systems dispense justice that is swift and deterrent. 

Perhaps it is all about being a developed nation or being one of the developing ones. Yet the transition would only happen if we move forward as there is absolutely no premium on standing still. 

U turns for India!

History is indeed being created at a rapid pace in the country of today. In a period barely exceeding over a year, the nation has been witness to a cataclysm of events with potential to lead to major changes in the nation.

There have been four turning points in recent times.

The first was the call of Anna Hazare that brought out people in large numbers on the streets of Delhi, to vent their anger against the blatant and brazen connivance of those who rule with those who loot and the fading away of the difference between the two. The call of Anna for setting up a Lokpal to deal with the looming cloud of corruption touched the finer chords in the hearts of the people. The insensitivity of the rulers towards their duties and the people who gave them the power was the final straw, but this was just the beginning of a tidal wave, yet none realized it then.

The next was the outpouring of anger, emotions and people on the streets of Delhi in solidarity with Nirbhaya, the young girl who was brutally defiled in the capital city of the nation. It was also perhaps the first time in the history of independent India that the middle class walked out of the confines of their homes to face water cannons in cold winter evenings just to register their anger with the incident that merely affected an individual but with which all identified, as well as a government that had no intent of providing sane and safe governance. Each one of us felt as if raped and abandoned.

The elections to the state assemblies came next and we found the picture of Kejriwal staring at the masses from almost everywhere. His three wheeler campaigns caught the imagination of the people and his personal image stood out among the specter of corrupt politicians, yet none visualized the tsunami that struck the moment counting began. While even die-hard followers of the rebel refused to give him more than a single digit representation in the assembly and any mention of him as the chief minister was considered laughable, yet he emerged from the shadows to occupy Sheela’s chair.  And in the few weeks post occupation his following is visibly on the rise with many portraying him as the main challenger for the national throne. The nation after a long time experienced the intent to provide good governance and it shows.

Perhaps we have the habit of missing pointers, pointers towards the looming change that the nation apparently has been in the throes of yet the established dispensations and surprisingly even the fourth estate miserably failed in judging the tide. These pointers were invariably disposed of with a shrug, as minor irritants in a nation expected to always fall in line with the known devil.

The change is upon us and if we don’t’ realize it even now there is no way we shall not be swept off our feet when the major tide hits the nation. The setting up of helplines against corruption is indeed a first of its kind and definitely something major in a nation plagued regularly by scams of ever growing magnitude. That it is the first of many major changes that shall follow and change the way governance is conducted in the country is a foregone conclusion. Perhaps more than the direct consequences of this step, merely bringing corruption center stage in a nation that so far steadfastly refused to do so is a very major milestone. That the intent of the rulers can also be to inject value systems in the governance machinery so far identified with sloth and self-aggrandizement was never earlier contemplated and with this one stroke, the meaning of governance as understood so far in this country is bound to change.

Gone shall be the days of the extended Raj is what the common man now hopes. He who had given us on hope is now hopeful and that is a very good sign indeed.

I hope India would definitely not miss this U turn towards development and growth!

From despair to hope!

Pain and anger over the Nirbhaya incident marked the national mood in the December of 2012. Such was the pain that a nation normally used to celebrations abandoned the new year bash and such was the anger that the entire populace clamored for nothing short of death penalty for all the rapists including the juvenile. It was perhaps the first time in the history of independent India that the entire nation rose in unison against gross injustice and torture perpetuated on one individual. It was also perhaps for the first time that the middle and upper classes spilled out of the confines of their homes onto the streets, to show solidarity with a cause and anger with the incident as well as the state of the nation. Perhaps everyone felt as if  mother india herself had been defiled.

The December of 2013 in sharp contrast has been marked by a mood of despair yet anxious expectation. Despair and frustration over the abysmal standards of governance witnessed in recent times and anxious expectation over the results of the mini general elections that are indeed a pointer towards larger changes to occur in the way governance is conducted in this country. That the quality of governance and call for probity in public life and not merely anti incumbency mattered in this mini mahabharat was its main redeeming feature. For once the people of this nation voted for good governance in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chattisgarh, and for AAP in Delhi out of sheer frustration with national parties. 

I only wish that the anger, frustration and despair does not spill over to 2014 and that this year marks the beginning of good governance in this nation thirsting in vain since its tryst with destiny.

Perhaps the time for a real tryst with destiny has now arrived. Maybe we the people of India, the resilient people of India may now opt for spine in favor of resilience and for the call of conscience in favor of greed. The silent acceptance of mal-governance, corruption, high handedness and inequality may soon be a thing of the past if and only if the change that has happened especially in the capital of the nation proves to be a real change and not a hashed continuance of the status quo.

We as a nation have a problem in almost every sphere of our activities. Be it poverty, lack of housing, water, electricity or basic infrastructure, there are shortages galore, shortages that do not have a plausible reason to exist after sixty six years of self rule. Why Delhi should be internationally known more as the rape capital of India than for any other reason is what makes us hang our heads in shame. Why we are way below in the transparency index and a front runner in corruption is beyond rationale. 

Screwed or perhaps warped governance is at the root of almost every issue, yet our leaders, good and bad blabber only about further tweaking the system for marginal improvements that remain merely sinusoidal. While any bureaucracy thrives on the backwardness of the nation, the inability of the public representatives to understand why we have not reached where we should is inexplicable. That a machinery built to rule is unfit to govern is a realization that has not sunk in despite failures galore on every front. 

The day we have a leader who understands this very basic premise and then makes structural changes in the processes as well as the machinery that makes policies, takes decisions and enter into contracts, the country would be able to make up for the lost years.

The times are changing

Finally Lalu goes to jail. I vividly remember his days in the rail bhawan and the eagerness of the powers that be to line up and do his bidding, in fact do the bidding of his cronies. How my head still hangs in shame at the conduct of those whom the society regards as having arrived.   

Yet this indeed is a moment for all of us to rejoice; one more member of the power club goes to jail close on the heels of Asaram Bapu. This is the true beauty of our democratic system that even power and pelf of the highest order fails to prevent the entry of the high and mighty inside the precincts of the holy jail. Yet the ground reality that even such high profile arrests fail to act as a deterrent is a failure beyond comprehension. Sukh Ram, Kalmadi, Raja, Kanimozhi, Choutala and many others passed considerable time behind bars yet surprisingly fail to deter others of their ilk from following suit.

This country amazes me. A self anointed godman openly flirts with and sexually abuses young girls despite the presence of unsuspecting parents a few metres away. The brazenness of the godman as well as the naïveté of the parents are disturbing in this nation that calls itself modern. The crime of the godman is undoubtedly worse than the rapists of Nirbhaya, for while the act was similar, the godman also crudely exploited the sentiments of his own naive followers. How I wish we also had a law that prescribed stern punishment in city squares for such heinous crimes, yet I am certain that the fellow would walk out with a punishment not commensurate with the crimes on humanity that he inflicted.  

Modi’s speech in the capital has perhaps been the only piece of reassurance that the nation has had in the recent past. His address held promise for the future, a vision of the emergence of our nation as a state that shall brook no nonsense internally or externally. The emerging internal contradictions in the ordinance that ensured the entry and continuance of criminals inside parliament and state legislatures also gives hope that perhaps the political class has seen the light.

The best thing about the verdict of yesterday is that the spectre of Lalu will continue to haunt aspiring politicians and bureaucrats, a class that has aspirations for quick silver for a long time to come. That a powerful politician who throughout his life had scant regard for institutions and probity has been made to bite the dust by those very institutions would indeed prove to be a humbling experience for many.

We are indeed in for rapidly changing times! 

Friday the 13th

Friday the 13th of September has indeed been lucky for the nation and its constituents. In Modi, the nation got a new ray of hope in the otherwise hopeless scenario that we find ourselves engulfed in. The enthusiasm of the constituents over Modi got a major fillip by the rare court verdict that that satiated the collective conscience of the country. The perpetrators of the heinous crime on the 16^th of December have been paid back in the same coin and for once, justice was not merely seen to be done it was actually delivered. Yet the mere fact that the juvenile who was the worst of the lot has got away lightly should lead the society to introspect whether someone fit to rape and murder be treated with kid gloves. Is it not a travesty of justice?

Perhaps the nadir had been reached, both in governance as well as social values and the now the road is only up, uphill I must say and moving forward therefore would indeed necessitate a resolve much more firm than what the nation has witnessed in its history. It appears that the second war of independence has just begun, and this time it is not freedom from foreign rule, but freedom from mal-governance, rampant corruption and a erosion of ethical and moral values. It is indeed time that we as a nation realize that true freedom and development do not come cheap and the price would have to be paid even sixty six years after the tryst with destiny.

A new era of nation building appears to have dawned on this land that was once regarded as the noblest and richest territory in the world. That is what gives a rare significance to Friday the 13^th of September 2013.

Many of us are shocked and angry at the clamor of a few misguided souls lamenting at the award of death penalty to the gang of four, the gang that achieved the rare distinction of carrying out the most heinous crime possible on a human being. That these misguided souls would have been singing a different tune had their own daughter undergone a fate similar to Nirbhaya is also true. While the hanging would indeed act as a deterrent to many rapists lurking in dark corners and allays, its impact would be many times more if it is carried out in full public view in the Ramlila maidan. The ground that every year witnesses the mythical victory of good over evil would indeed rejoice over the real elimination of evil from the society. 

Evil needs to be crushed with an iron hand and not given an opportunity to rise again. Ramayana and Mahabharata, the two holiest epics of the hindu religion have shown the way that evil needs to be crushed for the good of the society. This judgement therefore gives solace to aggrieved hearts and there were millions of them after the 16^th December incident. 

Friday the 13th would indeed have a new connotation from now on! 

We need to radically improve!

I am now slowly getting convinced that the sarkari tantra in the country has firmly resolved to maintain status quo and vowed not to improve itself. 

The flood of scams has indeed swept us off our feet and almost everyone has lost the count. 2G when it happened indeed hit the nation hard but the flood witnessed thereafter has brought major scams as close to the common man as minor acts of extortion indulged in by petty government functionaries in each and every single sarkari office in the nation. Scams have indeed lost their sheen unless they are in a few lakh of crores bracket.

The indignity heaped on the nation in the night of the 16^th of December 2012 when Nirbhaya was raped and murdered is again a reminder of the our passion for mere rhetoric and not decisive action. Nirbhaya stands forgotten and the case lingers on the lower courts. The leaders who then made tall statements about fast track justice in this case and deterrent steps have almost vanished. The laws remain the same and so is the slowly grinding machinery of the judicial system.

An organization, state or a nation moves forward by decisive action. A resolve unless translated into action is at best a rhetoric and therein lies the tragedy of this great nation. The bureaucratic tantra is so complex that it is unable to go beyond self sustenance, an act that keeps it fully occupied. The political machinery remains confined to exploiting the harvest to recover many times over the major investment it made in getting elected. The poor citizen is left to fend for itself.

Closer home, the great railways continues to remain the paradise of the mediocre and the corrupt. The system that has evolved with the contribution of nine services of the union places on a high pedestal the non–performer and the bechara. The complexity of the tantra ensures that delivery happens only rarely and corruption does not get eradicated. The complex tantra is indeed a perfect shroud for covert practices.

The bureaucrat has stakes only in non deliverance and self gratification. The recent scams have only taught him to be more careful, yet continue with things as they are.

Hum nahi sudharenge kabhi bhi, seems to be the national slogan.   

The mayhem continues!

Two recent news items disturbed me. The first was regarding the apathy of the passers by towards road accident victims in Noida and the second was Nirbhaya Part II, the brutal rape of a 5 year old in Delhi. Perhaps Kalyug has now fully descended on this great land of Rama, Krishna, Rahim and Gandhi?

Value systems have apparently gone for a six. Perhaps they were never there in our hindu society and we merely maintained a pretense of the same for centuries togethor. Else how can one justify the series of brutal rapes in a society the scriptures of which harp on maintaining the dignity of the fair sex. How else can one justify a total lack of concern towards fellow humans as displayed by the passers by on the highway in which an injured girl and his father along with their dead son and mother were merely shrugged of as an unpleasent scenery by others.

The father of the nation lived his life for others, yet his sone and daughters, we the people of India live only for self with absolutely no concern even for fellow citizens in extreme distress. 

And the leaders of this nation will continue to parrot their old line of defending the juvenile. As someone recently and rightly said that a guy fit enough to molest and rape is also fit enough to undergo punishment. Will the pseudo leaders of this nation ever understand? Perhaps they will, the day the daughter of one of the high and mighty ones goes through an ordeal Nirbhaya or the five year old went through. Till then they shall continue to parrot what in their opinion will get them votes. Yet they are wrong, any politician who comes forward and sets things right even by taking harsh and unpopular measures like hanging or castrating rapist juveniles is bound to emerge as the ladla of the nation at the next hustings. 

Expecting the bureaucracy to pilot measures for a value based society will however continue to remain a mirage. Yesterday's display of a rabid conduct by a senior police officer while handling aggrieved protestors at the hospital where the five year old lay is perhaps in tune with what the bureaucracy has on offer for the masses they are recruited to serve. 

I never found reasons to be proud of being a hindu, but today I am ashamed to be one. Even the much maligned islamic countries are far superior in so far as comprehensive handling of the masses by the rulers is concerned. They dont brutalize women like in our country nor do they allow one who brutalizes to get away without facing the same level of brutality that he inflicted on others. Our record at handling terror is also dismal. An american would indeed be proud of the bold manner in which his government has handled the boston incident. Our actions and reactions stand out in stark contrast with even responsible leaders clamouring to save the lives of those who butchered their own countrymen or defiled sacred institutions. Sadly our judicial machinery with all its inherent merits also never believed in the dictum that justice delayed is justice denied. 

Yet the common man on the street and the high and mighty in the comfort of their luxurious homes know what is wrong. Each and every one of us knows what is wrong with the nation and uniformly expects and also waits for someone else to set it right. This has forever remained the biggest tragedy of this great land known as Bharatvarsh.    

Retribution at the holy Tihar

The death of Ram Singh within the precincts of the holy Tihar was perhaps the only death in recent times that brought smiles on the faces of many. Vicious it may sound but the fact remains that this news gladdened many hearts for the act of his suicide was perhaps the best retribution for the heinous crime that this animal had perpetrated. Maybe God intervened for want of a swift and just punishment for this heinous crime against the human race.

Mad dogs should be killed at the earliest and what better than the mad dog killing himself and in the process making it easy for the overburdened machinery. Perhaps ours must be the only country in the world where even an act of killing a top honcho or an attack on the parliament itself takes decades to be taken to the logical conclusion of punishing the perpetrator. Dispensation of justice is also perhaps as deeply tied in knots as development and education are and rightly so, we all hail from same societal structure, howsoever good or bad it may be.

The Nirbhaya case has displayed the extent to which a human being can be brutal, merely for satisfying his basic instinct. The extent of brutality perpetrated shocked not only the common man but also hard core criminals who throng the holy Tihar and regarded Ram Singh and his gang as the ultimate scum amongst scums. Newspaper reports at times highlighted the vicious treatment that the men of Tihar inflicted on all those who defiled humanity by the rape and brutal murder of Nirbhaya. To that extent the men of Tihar gained the appreciation of many of us.

The affected party in almost all instances has a different and perhaps an appropriate viewpoint, yet the rest of us impose our, the society’s viewpoint even if it may be contrary had we been directly affected. During an earlier tenure as the head honcho of a major sarkari setup, I had as always cracked down on sexual harassment within office premises and suspended and transferred the male in many cases without going through the motions of an enquiry. On being questioned by a union leader during a staff interaction, I agreed to enquiries in future provided the leader would also seek an enquiry and not demand direct action even if his daughter or wife was sexually harassed in the office she worked. He and all other armchair critics were thus suitably silenced.

I am also unable to appreciate the clamour of many arm chair enthusiasts for a humanitarian handling of the criminals who displayed animal instincts while violating the girl and worse still showed no remorse thereafter. That this is distinctly a behaviour definitely not worthy of mercy or condonation is not in doubt, yet statements seeking the protection of the juvenile interalia seeking legal rights to rape and murder by adolescents keep on doing the rounds amongst the intelligentsia. Such pseudo protectionism encourages criminal tendencies, a familiar scenario in the capital city that has juvenile act in force.

Why cannot we be like Singapore or Dubai, nations where criminals are treated like one and crime therefore makes extremely rare appearances. That sheer deterrence is indeed the remedy for such crimes is a fact that needs appreciation even amongst that section of the society that remains fairly insulated from all that affects the common citizens of the nation. It is also beyond doubt that all those who are in favour of a treating the juvenile with kids gloves and abolition of death penalty for even heinous crimes, would like a chameleon change their stance the day someone from their immediate family and friends goes through even a hundredth of what Nirbhaya experienced. 

Soft pedalling on issues and softer still on deliverance and economic growth has led our nation to such a pass that even miniscule nations cock their thumbs at us more often than acceptable, and the recent snub is a case in point. Gandhi, the father of the nation wanted to build an India based on the foundations of truth, value systems and character, yet nation building has perhaps remained the least of our concerns. 

Today morning enroute to my office I read a graffiti on an auto that said “Please don’t honk. The nation is sleeping”. How true, yet how sad!

A nation sans value systems

The sentencing of an ex chief minister who also heads an important political party of the country comes as a beacon of hope for all of us who had all along been silent witness to the escape of the powerful from the clutches of the law.  That the president of the national opposition party had to resign in the wake of income tax raids was literally the icing on the cake. Probity in public life appears to be conveniently missing cutting across the political and bureaucratic spectrum.

Yet the moot question remains, whether the powerful Haryana baron would also escape the noose as has been the case with all those who had been involved in the innumerable “G” series of scams that rocked this nation not too long ago? Is this verdict also going to be a shroud behind which the powerful guy that he is would make his silent escape? These and many other similar questions would be jostling the minds of many right minded citizens this wintery morning.

It is indeed strange that “Ceaser’s wife should be above suspicion” an ancient saying is not finding acceptance even amongst the doyens of the national party that claims to be different based on virtues that are generally not visible to the common man. The blatant exploits by its generals south of Vindhya and in the state of Uttarakhand, and the tacit acceptance of the same by its top leadership for a long time also strengthened the universal perception that no party is different and that almost all politicians with rare exceptions have their hand in the till.

The overall scenario remains grim. The issue of corruption continues to occupy center stage with new exploits finding their way in newspaper columns with amazing regularity. Incidents of moral depravity are also on the rise with the recent incident involving Nirbhaya shaming the entire nation.  Moreover on the economic front and the human development index, our rating as a nation continues to be low. Yet the nation continues to excel in the consumer goods scenario.

Can a nation sans value systems regard itself as developed? Perhaps there is a need for all of us to introspect and then do what we can to restore the glory and pride of our motherland!    

The trauma lingers on!

Merely having a department of administrative reforms does not really mean that the government is serious about reforming the administrative machinery for governing the nation. Similarly mere statements, howsoever sombre they appear have no relationship whatsoever with the true intentions of the political or bureaucratic class of our nation. 

Sham is the word, a nation of shams and pretenses. 

I was recently saddened on learning about the summary transfer of an officer because he refused to carry out the illegal verbal orders of a powerful resident of the second floor. The initial shock was followed by a sense of apathy for the organization and its senior blokes who shy away from taking a stand even on the side of righteousness. What is the fun in being categorized as a senior bloke if one cannot stand up for his own subordinates in front of the powers that really matter? The pain intensifies when  these very spineless blokes ridicule and ride rough shod over their own team members for flimsy reasons.

In recent times, the nation also witnessed fiery debates in the aftermath of the "Nirbhaya" rape incident. Shameful it was to witness the educated class debating on the merits and demerits of capital punishment and whether the juvenile who by his actions defiled and almost murdered the girl deserves leniency just because he has not turned eighteen. I wonder whether the people who advocated leniency for the juvenile delinquent and also those who expressed their rabid distaste for capital punishment would have given the same opinion if their sister or daughter had undergone trauma similar to Nirbhaya. Hypocrites, a nation full of them!

Perhaps it all boils down to lack of integrity and genuineness cutting across the national fabric, a nation marching to its doom. But where did we go wrong? Perhaps during our tryst with destiny in 1947, we were like a small child whose parents have declared absolute democracy and total equality to all the constituents of the family, irrespective of their maturity levels. The child would go astray and so have we as a nation. Yet, redemption is possible but only at the hands of a true leader who has the gumption to take the nation forward, not merely his own family and supplicants. 

Being hindu, in god and destiny we trust.

Amen!