January 25, 2007

DEMOCRACY- BY THE PEOPLE, OF THE PEOPLE, BUT NOT FOR THE PEOPLE

Today’s page is dedicated to the nation.
Sometimes I wonder whether we are actually patriotic. As another Republic Day passes by what is it that we as Indians do to say we are patriotic? Is urging Indian Cricket team or any other national team patriotism? Is it because we are a democratic and secular country that we have so many reservations and communal riots? R we really patriots as we call ourselves? For non resident Indians, like me, it is even worse. We have left the country, for a better life, better pay, etc etc. What r v doing to contribute to our nation’s progress?

India was in the international news very recently as victims of “Racism”. Have we ever wondered why these remarks have been made? Why is it that in spite of being a country with over a billion population and abundant resources we have still got the image of a poor country?

In the film “Swades” Sharukh Khan stars in a very beautiful scene where he gives the reason why the country is not developing. Though the dialogues were from a movie, the content was realistic and I feel it is the most apt reason why we r labeled as a poor or developing country. In his dialogue, the actor says that we as Indians blame each other for whatever difficulties we face. The public blames the government authorities. The authorities blame the politicians, the politicians blame the public, etc etc and the blame game goes on. Actually who is to be blamed? The answer is we!!!! We have to examine what r we doing to improve the country. Are we not still throwing garbage on the roads, are we not still giving bribes to the authorities even though we curse them, r we not still searching for loopholes in the tax laws to evade tax?

Well I am not saying that these things can be changed overnight. But there has to be some way to change this. One of the best ways is to improve our education/ literacy levels. Knowledge would bring in enlightenment and the country would head in the right direction. There may be other ways also to lead the country to progress.

While traveling back to my place yday I heard on the Radio that Goldman Sachs, one of the leading consultants, has projected that India’s economy would be overtaking USA’s economy in a decade. So friends, everything is not as bleak as it seems. Whether the glorified Indian democracy,the 57th year of which we r celebrating tmrw, is really “by the people, of the people” and “FOR THE PEOPLE” is something which is preposterously in the hands of every fellow Indian. The onus of making this vision a reality in the near future is something which generations of future Indian diaspora would cherish, and there is no better day than tmrw to take a pledge to start changing those little things which could put India on top.

Jai Hind

2 comments:

diyadear said...

swadesh is really a very gud movie.. recently i made my husband to watch it too :)

hariom said...

im always away from politics so i wont comment.but u r tri colour post s beautiful.