A better India
John Eric Gomes
Compare this example of the Panaji-Betim ferry crossing. It is now a mad rush and a free for all! Humans and two wheelers rush in before the others can safely get out. Everyone has to adapt, or get left behind. Rules, correct behavior and discipline are thrown to the winds by everyone! The authorities have abdicated their responsibility for good administration and safety ~ and the people have abdicated civic sense and decency. The navigation department with its shortage of trained staff is unable to control the rush. Like the ferry crossing, everyone has to indulge in some form of jostling sometime, in some way or other, to be able to go about daily life and living.
Capitalism for survival, going the same corrupt route as political and corporate corruption, is no antidote to the problem. Such behavior cannot be looked upon as a safety valve for the poor. Necessity in our system spawns a sham democracy, where a certain class of people corner all the benefits and use the law and enforcement agencies, to render the others helpless victims. This is one of the reasons that lead people to indulge in various degrees of corruption. There is no doubt that things have to change. This will come about when people say “enough is enough”, and either democracy will prevail or revolution is on the cards.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
It is impossible to make laws and rules for everything and everyone. “There is a lalbatti, and no batti for others’ culture in our country,” stated former IPS officer and activist Dr Kiran Bedi. A class that makes the laws and rules for others and keeps itself above them! This inequality between the common man and the VIP is unconstitutional, demeaning and has no place in a democracy. There are excessive lalbatti wallahs who bypass queues and have excessive police protection. The common man has comparatively hardly any and has to fend for himself and also pay for their extravagances! “When you know that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing; when you see that money is flowing to those who deal not in goods but in favors; when you see that men get rich more easily by graft rather than by work and your laws no longer protect you against them but protect them against you…… you know that your society is doomed”, opined Foutainhead author Ayn Rand.
The first new revolution will be when empowered women restore the gender imbalance in our world. The second in our nation will be when VIP culture is done away with. These two revolutions will I believe, change the mindset towards a just and humane society. We have to tackle corruption in thought, word and deed. We need a confluence of civil society, politicians, judiciary, executive and the media for the emergence of another India, which is inclusive and not exclusive. Then perhaps citizens will reflect Tagore’s India: “Where the mind is without fear and the head held high.”
