"Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve"
Those were the words of Sir George Bernard Shaw in the early 1900’s, but I believe they are more relevant today than any time since Shaw spoke them.
Scandals now seem to be more common affair in India and its magnitude ranges from a penny to millions.
It runs all the way from the streets to the parliament. These have a distinct pattern and are commonly fuelled by unanimously elected representatives of the people "the democratic leaders".
But the ironical fact is that the tainted Indian political leaders are never prosecuted nor held accountable for their deeds. In turn time and again surprisingly they end up as unanimous elected representative of the people who run the state or the nation.
In the current Parliament 128 members representing 18 parties out of a total of 545 legislators have criminal charges lodged against them. Of those, 84 are for allegations of murder and 28 for theft and extortion.
Tainted politicians and few menacing bureaucrats have contributed enough towards the stumbling blocks of developing India.It has killed healthy competition and increased poverty. India Shining still remains their slogan but rather far from a common man's reality.
• Did anyone care or ask how the Government money is being spent?
• What was the motive behind electing an individual as a leader?
• How is Tax payer’s money being spent?
We have been living selfish life's just bothering about individual bank balances, personal luxuries.All along we live in monarchy and speak about democracy. We continue to echo the same thought year after year, generations after generations.
We have never seemed to have cared about the democratic society.
India is a great country, but why are we the way we are?
I believe democracy is much more a system where we pick how we should be governed by voting and making our own voices heard.Majority of the people in India fail to vote. When questioned they say “I do not know anything about politics, why would I vote?"
They are the followers of the fact that "Nothing is better than Nonsense"
If we fail to vote then we shouldn't be surprised having tainted politicians as our national leaders.
One family dynastic rule, religion divide, muscle strength, money power, cast factor, religion, social grounds, make the mockery of democratic norms in India.
The Indian politicians are self centered. They do what favors them and not the country or the society. They brainwash the illiterate voters by useless slogans, play around with their sentiments, set false expectations and exploit them.
Socrates defines democracy is
By the people, Of the people and For the people.
Today in India the tainted political individuals have redefined it as
Buy the people, Far the people and Off the people.
The time has come when we need to arise awake and look to ourselves. We need to re look at the people who represent us and govern the nation. We definitely deserve better.
I am sure that a little introspection on "why are we the way we are?" will help us get better.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Early Morning Alarms - Dog Barks and Car Honks
It was close to dawn when my eyes popped out of a deep sleep. I went to bed late last night and had a disturbed sleep all though the last week. Gosh! It was another day that made me feel "Barking dogs seldom bite" is no longer true.
The howling and barking of Caesar for the last few days woke up everyone in the apartment. Leashed to the door, bread pieces lying here and there, Caesar a german shepard could be spotted barking and howling.No one voluntereed to understand why Caesar was barking and his dear master has been out for a day or two. He chose to leave Caesar in the balcony.
We could not have asked for a better neighbor. Few folks managed to call the owner of the dog, let him know about the barking menace. It took almost an hour to reach him, but it took days for him to realize his mistake.
I went through the rule book of occupation for my apartment complex. It had a clear mention that "Apartment owners / Tenants having pets should be more responsible and ensure that their pets do not cause inconvenience to their neighbors ".
A meeting was called to discuss and resolve this. The meeting had everyone excepting the Owner of the dog!!
There was a huge debate over the issue and resolution seemed to be far away. Finally a notice on the violation of the rules of occupation was drafted for our thoughtful neighbor. One was dropped in the mail box and another was left at his door. Since yesterday morning Caesar has been quiet. My next door neighbor had recently moved in from Chicago. He was suffering from a Jet lag and Caesar had made it worse. He works during the odd hours and had to reach his workplace by 4:00 am. He seemed to have recovered from the Jet Lag and was all set to report to work.
Disturbed and irritated by the loud noise I moved closer to the window. It was my neighbor’s car. It was the honk from his cars reverse horn. He was leaving to work at 3:40 am. Loud and clear to wake any one in the dawn!!
It took days and a violation notice to the owner, to stop Caesar's bark. There are as many as 100 Cars in the apartment - That keeps me wondering how early should I sleep?
The howling and barking of Caesar for the last few days woke up everyone in the apartment. Leashed to the door, bread pieces lying here and there, Caesar a german shepard could be spotted barking and howling.No one voluntereed to understand why Caesar was barking and his dear master has been out for a day or two. He chose to leave Caesar in the balcony.
We could not have asked for a better neighbor. Few folks managed to call the owner of the dog, let him know about the barking menace. It took almost an hour to reach him, but it took days for him to realize his mistake.
I went through the rule book of occupation for my apartment complex. It had a clear mention that "Apartment owners / Tenants having pets should be more responsible and ensure that their pets do not cause inconvenience to their neighbors ".
A meeting was called to discuss and resolve this. The meeting had everyone excepting the Owner of the dog!!
There was a huge debate over the issue and resolution seemed to be far away. Finally a notice on the violation of the rules of occupation was drafted for our thoughtful neighbor. One was dropped in the mail box and another was left at his door. Since yesterday morning Caesar has been quiet. My next door neighbor had recently moved in from Chicago. He was suffering from a Jet lag and Caesar had made it worse. He works during the odd hours and had to reach his workplace by 4:00 am. He seemed to have recovered from the Jet Lag and was all set to report to work.
Disturbed and irritated by the loud noise I moved closer to the window. It was my neighbor’s car. It was the honk from his cars reverse horn. He was leaving to work at 3:40 am. Loud and clear to wake any one in the dawn!!
It took days and a violation notice to the owner, to stop Caesar's bark. There are as many as 100 Cars in the apartment - That keeps me wondering how early should I sleep?
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