For A Few Good Men

By BG Arun Kumar

India has suffered due to one mistake that it has committed. It lost its Independence for some centuries as it discredited the value of earthly existence, and gave too much credit a transcendental existence.
Even sixty years after achieving political independence, we are still a paper democracy. We have not achieved true equality and fraternity and therefore have not achieved true democracy.

Sardar Patel unified a badly divided country into a single nation. But sixty years later, we are most dangerously divided. People are freely killing one another in the name of political ideologies, religion, caste, language, ethnic groups, regional divisions like North, South and so on. The unity that was seen all over the country during the freedom struggle has vanished. Division and disunity are the most visible features of our country today. The practice of politics in our country is nothing but a clever manipulation of the divisions and disunity among the people. Most of our political leaders are experts in setting up one language against speakers of another language even when these others are our own next door neighbours.

There has been great economic progress in the country after we became independent and today there are a few Indians who are among the richest in the whole world. While we may feel proud about these few achievers, we must also hang our head in shame about the millions of our fellowmen who are living a wretched life below the poverty line. The gap between the richest and the poorest Indians has also increased with the increase in economic prosperity. While we have skillfully managed the creation of enormous national wealth, we have totally neglected its equitable and fair distributions across the population. The benefits of economic progress have reached only some select groups. The lives of the poor have become more and more difficult with the passing of time. In fact, 'removal of poverty' is being used by politicians as a slogan for gaining power and they have developed a vested interest in the poor continuing to be poor.

Though the Constitution accepted the access to elementary education as a right of every citizen, there are still billions of illiterate persons in the country. The exploitation of the lower classes in society by the classes above them continues unchecked. There are even today thousands of villages without roads, schools, doctors, hospitals, drainage and drinking water supply. If there are schools there are no teachers, if there is a health centre there is no doctor or nurse. There is almost no help when there are droughts of floods because either the relief material is stolen and sold or is eaten up by a variety of groups. The degree and the level of corruption in the country is just unimaginable and India is near the top in the world corruption list. Amassing wealth by adopting corrupt means has become just as normal as eating breakfast every morning. Breakfast may be missed on some day but bribe will never be missed.

There is degradation in the way the people's representatives live and function, there is degeneration in the functioning of the bureaucracy and the administration of justice at the lower levels which directly affects the common man and the poor, is also degraded. Individuals shamelessly pursue their own private goals by misusing public wealth. Are we a really civil society? A civil society is the backbone of democracy. Only gentlemen can uphold a democratic tradition and not goondas and the mafia, the corrupt and the crooks.
Where are the few good men and women who can save democracy from these entrenched people with vested interests? There are, but we the people should first discharge our responsibility by electing such people to high office. Unless we act through the ballot, the bullet's bull run will continue, to the detriment of our great country.

(The writer can be contacted at # 29, 38th Cross, 2nd Main, 8th Block, Jayanagar, Bangalore-70, Ph 9972013042, Email bgarunkumar@gmail.com).