The Coalmines allocation controversy that has been exposed by the CAG is yet another issue for the people of this country to pay attention to as long as the media pays and later shift the attention to another issue that the media picks up. This is the cycle that has been sustaining amongst many odds thanks to the media and the politicians who actively participate in this. Yes, we the People of India too participate in this process by watching TV and reading News Papers and magazines. Ever since the IT era ushered in, the Electronic Media became the most powerful one in the hands of the significant few of this country’s political system. The “Breaking News” syndrome is still ruling the roost. There are several news items that had been broken in the past 5 years but there is hardly any sincere effort that the people of this country remember as having done a thorough follow up of a sensational news. Thus Indians could not find a logical conclusion to a “Breaking News” that captured so much public attention and probably earned so much money. On the eve of Rajiv Gandhi Birthday this year, the UPA Govt released in all the leading newspapers in India a full page advertisement about electrifying the rural households in the years to come. It has been 65 years since we achieved the Independence. India is governed by Congress in a very substantial period in the last 6 and half decades. Three generations of Nehru ruled this country and they are responsible for the current state of affairs both on positive and negative side. It is time for the Congress as well as the People of India to indulge in deep introspection as to whether the present day political system is relevant or not. We need to focus more on: The political parties and their leadership, the agenda and the partys’ manifesto, the manner in which political campaigns are being conducted.The audit report of funding and expenditure of political parties, The declaration of assets and liabilities of candidates who had won and who would be contesting for the MLA/MP seats and of the Top rank leaders of all the political parties, And many other aspects that help the Voter make an relatively better choice among the candidates to choose. On the other hand the country is facing many challenges to stand up with dignity among the Nations of the world by planning and eradicating social malice witnessed in the following facts: Homeless people, who live under the shades of trees, make shift tents, bus stands, railway stations, shopping malls and other public and private buildings and in the Hume pipes stocked to lay underground. Openly attending to the nature’s calls due to non-availability of toilets for each family. Absence of underground drainage and sewage treatment system that resulted in open drainages converted as official breeding spaces for all kids of insects and many times intersect the drinking water pipelines and mix-up with them. This fact gives raise to allocation of huge funds – that are sent through corrupted route – to eradicate diseases that spread due to contaminated water, water logging, and menace of mosquitos, cockroaches; and house-flies. India is still facing acute electricity shortages in many parts of the country barring few states. The reason for this is none other than the political leadership of this country.
In this country only a few families, individuals can enter and remain in politics. It is these individuals and families that do not feel the need to improve the electricity and any other essential facilities in the country as they are capable of having them on their own. Our country’s inability to produce, transmit quality power gave rise to the business of Electrical Stabilizers. Now our country has ensured that it would not have enough power so that it can launch schemes for rural electrification endlessly on the eves of Rajiv Gandhi Birthday. This gave rise to the business of Invertors and Smart Gen-Sets. Today each block of apartment is equipped with a Gen.Set to ensure seamless operation of lift and illumination of common area and two light points and one fan point in the hall of each flat. This is the level of excellence that we have reached in compelling the people to pay for the inefficiency of political leadership. We the people of India feel no pain to accept this fact and patiently adapt to ways through which we can live normally. Absence of proper roads in villages, towns, cities and metros that give raise to the national wastage of fossil fuel day in and day out. There is still non-availability of safe drinking water to all the people of India and even the water for taking bath two times a day. We still find women in the remote rural areas walking very long distances to fetch water for drinking purpose. All the water bodies in the last 6 ½ decades have been thoroughly abused and many lakes have been ruthlessly converted into dwelling areas.
Today when we see any water body in any place of the country except the private lotus ponds and swimming pools all the water bodies are polluted beyond imagination. If anyone wants to see God or Mother Nature it is only in the five elements. In India the land of Sanathana Dharma all the five elements are being abused in a uncreative manner in the last six and half decades (one might wonder as to how we have abused space/Sky – please see above when you are on a big street the dangling of electrical cables, cable TV cables, and even the cable private power supply). India has now become a hub of automobile industry. Many foreign companies opened their manufacturing facilities here for variety of reasons that are well known. They manufacture and sell the cars here also compelling the people to pay huge sums for buying fuel to run them on the roads that are congested, badly made, people do not observe traffic norms, frequently jammed and routes diverted for V.V.I.P. passages, processions both religious and political. These roads are also closed on account of bandhs and raasta rokos. Thus Indians are compelled to burn fossil fuel wastefully every day with the help of the cars whose new models are rolled out very frequently.
When we have all these problems our MPs and MLAs ensure that their salaries, fringe benefits, facilities, funds for the so called development of their areas and so called study tours to other states and even foreign countries are improved year after year. Education defined as a subject of both centre and state, is the most abused area in this country that gifted Zero to make the world more objective than mythical. This is the fundamental and constitutional mistake that was committed that lead to the current state of affairs in Primary, Secondary, Higher, Technical and Post Graduate and Research areas. The list goes on as we pull this thread of enumeration and the intent of stating the above facts is to appeal to the common voter in this country to identify and choose a candidate who can speak sense on the above facts and has got relatively better background as an individual. It is also an appeal to the media, if they are really interested in doing good to the common man in India, to share the facts, expose the facts behind the election manifestos and political agenda of all major political parties. The media shall also take up every possible follow up action for each “Breaking News” and compete with each other in the media space with honest and value adding actions.
Common man does not know the implicit meaning of the language the Media speaks. He reads and sees and understands the news in his own way – mostly coloured by the way the news is presented. The glaring facts of inefficiency that are very much open to the public eye are never reported as Breaking News. There is hardly any report by any Journalist published so far in the print media or reported in the electronic media about a night spent along with a very poor family in a remote village of Andhra Pradesh that now suffers from lack of Electricity even during the night time. There is no Minister from any State or from the Centre that we know as having spent a day like a common man in a remote village and reported the needs to be met. Why can’t we expect Lalbahadur Shashtrys to be present among the present day politicians? We can, after seeing the President of the Punsari Gram Panchayat in Gujarat. This is the hope that made me write this. 2014 is not far away. It is not far away to witness the change that we want to see in the Indian Society. It is not far away to welcome the new generation of politicians and dismiss the rotten ones from the system. The question here is this: Can the media objectively and systematicall enable the people of India to recall all those inefficient, corrupt and selfish things that happened during UPA and NDA Rule – for that matter of any ruling political party in any state? If this happens we can certainly see many changes in the way we lead our lives after 2014 General Elections. Right to education, Right to information, Right to common minimum basic facilities shall become a reality. It is only then we the Indians can celebrate as a Nation and resolve to leverage the interdependence for enjoying the real independence.