English Article – Where is the hope
Photo credit: carunan from morguefile.com
Our country is passing thru a precarious phase. At one end we are talking about shining India/incredible India and on the other end we are seeing cases such as victimization of Ms Durga Shakti Nagpal the dynamic IAS who took the sand mafia head on. The Apex Court’s verdict to debar the convicted criminals from contesting elections is likely to be negated by constitutional amendment in the Act.
Then where is the hope. The only hope is from the youth. They only can transform the society. But they want a leader; they want to be shown the path. They want someone who can channelize their youthful energy and lead them. They want a Gandhi, a selfless person, a great organizer. We need a social revolution which will sweep away the evils of the society like an “Aandhi” (a strong wind)
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Where is the hope?
I was sitting in the balcony of my flat one early morning, sipping a cup of hot tea along with my favourite Rusk (biscuits). The news paper had not yet come. I was feeling fresh after doing my morning Yoga. The sun had risen and the filtered morning sun rays emerging from the little gaps of towering society buildings began to fall on my face. Although a bit uncomfortable to bear direct rays on my face yet I found lot of energy in those rays. My wife told me to shift my chair to a bit shaded area but I told her that ‘May be out of the numerous sun rays falling on my face, I can find one ray which is a ray of Hope.
See what happens when you are retired and you have all the time to ponder over past, present and future, have full time available to read the news paper thoroughly and reflect on the issues. Till yesterday,( before retirement ) I was only reacting on the various issues whether facing my personal life or debating for the current topics among the office colleagues.
Perhaps now I have learnt to reflect rather than react. The Newton’s Third law of Motion says ‘Every action has a Reaction’. We have been using this phrase thru all our school/college life and later on in our service life to show off that we still remember the Laws of Motion. The Optics in physics always said that sun rays are reflected, albeit differently by the plane mirror, concave mirror and the convex mirror. The lives of all earthly human beings also follow the same principles and either ‘react’ or ‘reflect’ in the same way as we have learnt in physics.
Dada J P Vaswani has also said “Many people ‘react’ and then ‘regret’. Learn therefore to ‘reflect’ and then ‘respond’.
Being in the reflective mode on that sunny morning, I was pondering over what is ailing this country even after 66 years of independence. Durga Shakti, an upright IAS officer is suspended for doing her duty religiously. The real reason is camouflaged ( taking head on with the sand mafia) and ridiculous alibi is given, though all the media reports suggest that she had resolved the ‘wall’ issue amicably and the local public themselves voluntarily demolished the wall.
I remember, my father wanted me to become an IAS officer. Joining the IAS is the dream of not only many young students but also their parents. In middle class circles, A youth becomes a celebrity over night when the results of his/her selection in IAS appears in the news paper next day morning.. It is considered to be the best service in our country which gives enormous opportunities to contribute in the development of the nation.
The young IAS become SDM and then DM and they plan the development of the district in coordination with the other agencies. The rich industrialist, big business men the high profile politicians all look out for an IAS as their son in- law. IAS provides name, fame, power and the security to the family in the form of a secured, respectable and powerful Govt job. They are the think tank of the govt in formulating and implementing the policies. The selection of an IAS officer is made thru a very tough test conducted by UPSC.
Despite my several attempts, I could not pass the exam and had to content myself with a job in public sector. The feeling of gloom had overtaken the family due to my failure in IAS. All the middle class dreams were broken. I used to feel as if this term of my life has gone waste. I had seen my senior college mates ending up as clerks in AG’s office and living a frustrated life after not getting selected in IAS. I was at least lucky to get an executive job in a public sector oil company. Such was the great attraction for IAS in my times.
Today, after looking at the episode of Durga Shakti, I feel very happy that myself and my wife never imposed or rather never wanted our son to become IAS, Although there were two reasons for that decision. The first one was that after my slogging and having failed in IAS, I never wanted my son to go thru all that shattering experience and play gamble with the aspiration of his life and secondly it was the bad impression of political interference in the working of IAS. We may worship Durga Shakti for her boldness but the average middle class is so meek and fearful that they can’t visualise their sons and daughters in the same plight as she is today. Therefore, with all the fancy dreams of the name, fame and power associated with IAS we decided to forget it and planned greener pastures abroad for our son despite all his academic and extracurricular achievements in school and college.
It reminds me of one of my office colleague who once said ‘why should not we opt for softer options if they are equally good’. And yes today I also feel he was right, the kind of atmosphere prevailing in our country will only accelerate Brain Drain. Such unwarranted punishments of young upright officers will definitely have a demoralizing affect on the aspiring brilliant graduates who want to join the civil services. Already the cream of the country is going abroad as their first choice as they feel that there is lot of political interference in the guise of political pressure in administrative services. Such cases will further discourage them to remain in India and serve the country as administrators. In addition to that, the probationers may start avoiding such state cadres where doing your duty honestly is punished, forget about reward.
Many of the seasoned or the experienced civil servants have realized that nothing can be done against such activities so they prefer to ignore and close their eyes. Some brave hearts have also lost their lives in fighting against this nexus. The new recruits are impulsive and energetic. They fight against such nexus and the result is crystal clear. Youth has got energy and tremendous capacity to fight against the odds. A young officer has a dream, a desire to make the things work. They have the rule book to support them. We have such elaborated rules to act upon any situation that they are enough to nail a culprit or a wrong doer .
Rules are framed by the Lawmakers i.e. MPs and MLAs and enacted in parliament or assembly .Why then problem arises, why the same law makers make a noise when these laws are implemented by the able administrators IAS/IPS. It appears that the law makers make the rules to catch public votes in their favour and when these rules boomerang upon them or their party cadre they bully the IAS. If rules are not implemented then the opposition parties clamour for the head of DM or SP of the district. Will you now dream IAS as a career for your son or daughter?
Frankly an average middle class parent has always been meek and fearful about the risk of life to their wards. All parents are possessive and they have so much affection with their children that they would never throw them in front of such sharks .Conduct rules are binding, you don’t have the permission to speak the truth , you are refrained from saying anything. Your voice is choked by the rules. What do u do then? As an ordinary law abiding citizen one feels helpless and a feeling of despair sets in our mind thinking that where do we ordinary people stand when the young and dynamic officers are suspended in a bizarre manner like this? God alone can save our country!
Dhritrastra syndrome
Today the state is ruled by leaders who behave like the Dhritrastra of the epic Mahabharata who was a born blind and could visualize only the interests of ‘Kauravas’ and to aggravate the matter further their advisers have become ‘Gandhari’ who has put a’ Patti’ on her eyes so she can’t see the truth. So only Lord Krishna can save us.The media is debating on ‘Durga’ issue, political parties are engaged the same old game of blaming each other’s governance. The pseudo intellectuals are fuming and the youth is deploring the high handedness of the state govt. all this is impulsive at the moment. It is very easy to tweet or comment on face book sitting in your office at home and then forget. Is it a past time for us is there any seriousness in our thoughts and actions? If so then why you vote such governments to power. You will say that no u have not voted them to power. In fact you have not even gone out to vote. You were watching your favourite movie or the cricket match on the polling day. It was a paid holiday for you. Then why are you crying? You have no right to shout now.
Our social fabric has become such that growth of money in a family is looked upon with high respect and regards. Perhaps no body looks after the means thru which it is achieved. A middle class person purchases land, house car and other amenities in a short time then it is called his business acumen or smartness. Amassing of wealth has become great lure, means are unimportant. Earn by hook or crook, donate a little bit in social works and you are worshipped. With money comes the power. Flaunting money is a fashion in current day society. If you are honest and live a simple life although holding a powerful post u are termed as good for nothing, a simpleton of no use. If you do not give favours or get the work done for your closed friends and relatives, you are termed as ‘Snob’ who has forgotten the friendship. You are under tremendous social pressure to bend the laws and help them.
Else what is the use of your becoming an IAS/IPS or Magistrate/judge? As if It is your sole responsibility to uplift the under privileged of your close family circles. Amassing wealth is not at all a sin as long as you are not caught and implicated. So amass wealth smartly, don’t get caught. If you are in politics then you have more freedom, you create wealth, do scams and when caught blame the officers attached with you. They might lose their jobs but you become darling of the media. You are popular now. The case will go on for years, u keep on pulling the right strings, change your loyalty to ruling govt .if you are a bigger leader then bargain on the strength of your vote bank .The cases may go on for years but nothing will happen to you , you keep on winning elections. Wherever there is easy money, mafia will take birth, be it sand/forest/oil/coal/liquor etc.
When the Supreme Court says that all the political parties should come under the purview of RTI Act, then the entire political parties join together to amend the constitution. We have lost our moral character; it is at the lowest ebb today. We are least ashamed of our evil actions. We have guts to dub media as misquoting us despite a video proof with them. Look at media’s working also. The media who criticized ‘nirmal baba’ for his ‘shaktiyan’ and was after his blood, the same media is now giving his programme telecast as advt. what is going on in our country ?.
A situation has developed in India that wherever there is big and quick money, the mafia enters there. Mafia also knows that they need political clout to keep away the strict local DM/SP SDM etc. The politicians want election funds. Where from it will come? They also want muscle power which mafia readily provides them. Therefore local administration fails to take any actions in the cases involving illegal activities be it illegal mining or trade in illicit liquor etc. because the Mafia is backed by politicians. Our fear has disappeared .we have no regrets in doing nefarious activities.
Now a day’s people are not fearful of even the GOD. Some people think that by giving big donation to the religious places they are absolved of all their sins. Nobody wants to irrigate the motherland with blood and toil. Everyone wants to exploit the soil. We are no more sons of the soil but we have become looters of the soil. The ruling party, whosoever it may be, should always draw a line between promoting welfare of the people at large thru good administration and the appeasement of their local cadres. No political party can win the confidence of general public in long run by such deplorable acts.
At best what they can achieve is satisfy the ego of their local cadres. Those who are well off they don’t want to step out of their comfort zone. Those who have nothing , they have a feeling of hopelessness and the planning commission is ridiculing their plight by setting the limit of Rs 32 p/m as BPL .Now left is middle class, they will shout feebly on the rates on vegetables and onions and sleep. Common man when sees upright officers like Durga Shakti then they make them God or Goddess, because the common man has lost all hopes. Why there was spontaneous response in ANNA’s rallies, same reason, we are looking out for a messiah. Then where is the hope. The only hope is from the youth. They only can transform the society. But they want a leader; they want to be shown the path. They want someone who can channelize their youthful energy and lead them. They want a Gandhi, a self less person, a great organizer.
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