We Indians are adept at the blame game. I, from time to time, keep cribbing about how the politicians are corrupt, how the police is not doing their job diligently. But then, am I myself performing all my duties? Am I serving the nation in any minuscule way? Oh Yes! Absolutely. I cast my vote. That gives me enough rights to curse these “Public servants” , right ? It gives me the right to throw garbage on the road, and then when someone else does the same thing in front of my building — I’ve the right to crib about how the municipality is unable to keep the city clean. Don’t I ?
We often talk of nepotism as a evil that’s been fostered by the political ‘families’ and ‘dynasties’. But would these ‘families’ still flourish if “We, the People” refuse to vote for them. And in turn, vote for a promising candidate, making an informed choice. We have an excuse for not doing that too — “All parties are the same. Who do we then vote for ?”. Our Constitution provides us a solution in Section 49-O , the option of casting a “No Vote”. Yet, the rule lurks in futility with hardly anybody exercising it. I asked a few of my ‘cribbing’ friends if they would be willing to enter politics and help clean this system from within. Unfortunately, there weren’t any affirmatives. I wonder if even 1% of the parents of our country would be willing to send their children into politics.
We Indians are said to be extremely rich in culture. We boast of having an impeccable value system. What exactly is our culture? Is it the numerous music maestros, a plethora of classical dance forms etc. Or have we gradually imbibed corruption, slavery, gender bias and nepotism into our culture, our value system. We don’t think twice before giving a bribe if it facilitates us, copying in exams is a accepted norm and forging certificates and documents is a common practice.
These are just my random musings. And the aim isn’t to crib about how poor India is. We are undoubtedly the richest in the world in terms of talent. Yet, only because of a few short-comings, even after 60 years of Independence, we are still a developing nation.
The solution lies within each one of us. If each one of us decides to do our work diligently and honestly, there’s no limits to the heights that India can achieve. I hereby pledge to conduct myself by a code of morality instead of blindly giving in to the current ‘Value System’. I, today, will stand up and make a difference.