POLITICAL DIARY

New Delhi, 24 January 2009

Republic At 59

WE DESERVE A LOT BETTER

By Poonam I Kaushish

The irony could not be more profound. As India celebrated its 59^th Republic Day yesterday, the Hollywood blockbuster Slumdog Millionaire about a Mumbai slum boy winning a TV game show Kaun Banega Crorepati opened to global acclaim. As the world celebrates the celluloid ode to India’s underbelly of stark garibi it brings us face to face with cruel home truths that cannot be brushed under the carpet. Our tryst with brazen casteism, communism, increasing poverty and a total urban breakdown which has turned India into a Frankenstein of lawlessness, crime and violence. Broken by staccato political pipedreams. “Don’t worry everything will be alright.”

Will it? Answers are not easy to find. Explanations and analyses are aplenty. All blame it on the rotten and corrupt system. Plainly misleading while the country’s unity, stability and progress is threatened by default. Think. Just because our economy grew at 9% (6% in recession) doesn’t mean that Brand India with its malls, highways, high-rise buildings and IT parks has arrived. What about Asli Bharat where 70% of the population earns less than Rs.20/- a day.

There is heartbreak everywhere. Wherein the neon signs of Coke taunt the grinding poverty of millions who rummage in garbage bins to feed their famished stomachs. Dirty men with vacant eyes, children begging on the streets, girls soliciting men and old men lugging heavy burden like cattle to keep body and soul together. All resignedly stating, "Hamara koee sapna nahin hain. Kya kar sakte hain? Ab padhe nahin hain, to kya sapne dekenge?” (I have no dream. What can I do? Since I haven't studied, what dreams can I have?)" Words which fly in the face of India joining the super league of nations.

We hit bottom a while ago, and are now digging ourselves into a hole. It is only a matter of time when the poor barter their shovel for knives in a desperate attempt to liberate themselves from the throes of poverty. Add to this the annual droughts, famines and farmer suicides we come face to face with mounting crisis.

Child labor is rampant in over 11 States with more than 20 million children employed in carpet, glass, matchbox industries etc. Over 150% of the children are uneducated. Around 23 million children are eligible for entry into the school system yet only 6 million finish school of which about 2.3 million graduate. Thus, 17 million do not even finish school. Worse, the quality of education on offer is abysmal. On any day 25% of the teachers are absent and 50% of children in class V cannot read a story and 21% of them cannot recognise numbers.

Not only that. Shockingly, 40% of the current workforce of 484 million is illiterate and another 40% is below 12 class pass. Bluntly, 200 million of our workers cannot even sign their name! Big deal. Ever heard of Golma Devi, who is a Minister in Rajasthan?  She could barely read her oath card at the swearing-in ceremony and it took her three days to learn how to sign her oath letter. But she became a Minister simply because she is a dissident BJP leader’s wife.

Raising a moot point. Why do we keep electing illiterate, gold diggers and criminals to power? Just because they fit the right caste and creed criteria? What can we expect of our politico criminals and who only know how to play dirty political games and saving their kursis. Importantly, how can illiterates and criminals make policies which affect over a billion people? Recall, it took all of 15 minutes for our Right Honourables to pass 18 Bills on the Lok Sabha’s last sitting in December. Is that the best that we, as a democracy have to offer?

More. See the way our netagan are busy haranguing us on corporate governance. Over IT major Satyam’s Rs 7,000 crore fraud. But two points need to be made. One, those living in glass houses cannot afford to throw stones. The scam could not have been perpetrated without the connivance of the TDP and Congress State Governments successively. Questionably, how did Ramalinga Raju get 30,000 acres of prime land at throwaway prices in the State? Why did not SEBI investigate the complaints? Who asked the income tax department to go slow? Who put the lid on Raju’s sins of omission and commission?

Two, even as our polity talks of corporate governance, what have they done to provide good governance? The greater well-being and happiness of the people? Zilch. Politics is now all about personal benefits, status and power of office. Thus, winning elections, controlling public offices, and quickly making money are the common concerns of our netagan. Ramalinga Raju and his cohorts are behind bars but what about our corrupt leaders? BSP’s Maywati, Samjwadi’s Mulayam Singh, RJD’s Lalu Yadav et al. All roam free and worse sermonize about providing a corruption-free Government. Shockingly, 5 tainted Ministers adorn the Union Treasury Benches. Dismissed as ‘compulsions of coalition politics.’ Sic. Where is the accountability?

Sadly, we all know that our politicians are corrupt, yet we repeatedly elect them by vote or default, legitimizing the illegitimate. Clearly, a country without an underlying base of equal opportunity can’t claw out of the morass of overpopulation, poverty, and pollution through uncoordinated and discrete vested interests alone. Who follow the Orwellian principle: Some are more equal than others. We need to hold our public officials accountable, for every rupee wasted/stolen, every promise broken.

The time has come for strong, charismatic and inspiring leaders. Who are ready to walk the extra mile and courageous enough to take decisions without worrying about the next elections. Leaders who are iconic and whom the aam aadmi can relate to, who speak the language of the masses and understand their problems and can inspire the whole nation to work for its betterment. We have had enough of the ‘khadi’ clad politicians who don’t know their right arm from their left.

The tragedy of it all is that our country is riven by regional politics, overt power-broking, and endemic political apathy. Absence of national character and indiscipline has led to a creeping paralysis. Two million people braved sub-freezing temperature to watch President Obama’s inauguration in Washington. Can we imagine this kind of national euphoria over the swearing-in ceremony of the Head of State? On Republic or Independence Day? No. A big no.

In the ultimate, depressingly despite the outward trappings of democracy lies a feudalistic, autocratic set-up. There is no national self-respect, pride or identity. Disgust, revulsion and cynicism aside, most people see nothing but trouble, travail and a dark future. Yet many others would be happy to publicly whip and even guillotine our netagan, whereunder even the gutter today is cleaner that the politics of today. The day is still far away when people will assert "jurm hai kam" but what do we do with our politicians “jin mei hai sharm kam"! --- INFA

(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)