Saturday, October 8, 2011

I too want development

Is the demand for development, the domain of a few politicians ? Are others not responsible for development ?

In schools we teach that democracy is for, by and of people. That fundamental rights are guaranteed by constitution and fundamental duties are to be fulfilled by every citizen. Public opinion is meant to be a strong tool to measure the democratic process. Law of rule protects people irrespective of their birth.
Then how did we arrive at this stage where every lesson learnt is misinterpreted. Right or wrong interpretations, both need intelligence. Its sad that wrong interpretations are ruling the land while law is working at a snail’s pace.

Demand for separate states is the rhetoric of a few politicians and in some cases like AP and North East, it’s the tune of students too. My experience in the north east has given me ample evidence of how students are misled by politicians and royally ditched after their political gains.

The losers are students while politicians are busy cutting ribbons.

How many students ended up with a political career ? How many students who agitated for a separate state, achieved any progressive purposes for themselves or their sucessors ? Except asking for local reservations and more concessions, their demands do not have any value addition.

When I see the groups like government employees, mining workers, auto unions, cable operators joining the agitation for a separate , it reminds me of the freedom struggle . Tribals, tea plantation workers, factory workers, industry owners, farmers joined the freedom struggle.

But the irony is each one of them joined the movement for their personal gains.

Its not a free India that they dreamt of but freedom to hunt in forests, to move freely from one tea estate to the other, to get better wages, to get freedom from british restrictions on free production, and better wages and living conditions.

To them, freedom in their day to day life was more important than who ruled India. But we believe that people from different walks of life joined the freedom struggle for independence, while the reality is something else.

Whether independent India fulfilled the demands of above said or not is everybody’s knowledge. We still have farmers and workers crying for their right against exploitation.
In such a case where is the evidence that independence or separate statehood is a guarantee for development ? Development happens when generative work is done by every individual.

We teach about regionalism as a threat to democracy. While differences in natural resources are beyond our control, balancing the developmental time table is certainly in the hands of those administering the country for 65 years. Their political priorities create more imbalances than the actual situation.

With science and technology aiding us at every step and ample opportunities are available, development is no longer a political issue. It is the personal need of every citizen of this country. Having reached a stage where individual mettle is the criteria for happy living, why are people wasting time in getting reservations and concessions ? The same energies can be diverted to empower oneself to carve a life for oneself.

In this 21st century that we live in, agitations and bandhs are regressive. The cost of one day’s income lost can only be felt by a daily wage worker than a politician for whom every bandh is an investment for his political future.

9 comments:

Vamshi Krishna - vamshkrishaqua@gmail.com said...

Hi ma'm, this is a very interesting article!!
It is an eye-opener i must say... your interpretations are downright... this is plainly a political game... i just hope the politicians read this article, atleast then their senses would work... or perhaps we have to read for them, for they are uneducated gamers!!
Waiting to see more under this subject...! :)


-VamshiKrishna-

SHIVRAJ ODHEL said...

I wish to have Wings " So that I can Fly high",
I wish to have Gills " to take Breath in water",
I wish to be, fire " So that I can ignite many minds",
I wish to be, Snow " So that I can cool any situation",
I wish to be, Air "So that I can be a twister to remove negative",
I wish to be a Leader " So that I can lead our country",
I wish to be, God " So that I can run the universe Smoothly"....
Hope my wishes come true to solve all our Challenges...

meghana.lanka said...

hello ma'am . such a mind blowing article it was jus so enlightening and this calls for a critical and an intensive study. its hight time ppl understand the intensity of the situation.
keep them coming! :)

meghana.lanka

Advait Sivakumar said...

Hello mam, frustrated like you. I would earnestly request the politicians to do a serious introspection of protest. Could'nt we learn from the shoe factory workers who made only one shoe as a mark of protest?
The agitators should show their aggression by taking up Rapid Force Task of completion developmental projects and demanding more funds from the Centre, rather than resorting to stop the functioning of public services. This would be like hitting two birds with one shot.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the timely article on the current problem of pseudo development.
A time has come to define the true development and the means and measures to be followed to achieve it.
I feel truly the development is the status where each member of the society shares and enjoys the abundances of the life, comforts, security and is free to achieve her personal goals without harming or posing a threat to the society. In fact while doing so she adds and contributes to the wellness of society.
By calling bandhs and asking schools to participate is wrong. The involvement of students for this wrong reason is more wrong. To play with the future of students / tomorrows civilians and spoil it by provoking them to do harm to the society is the most wrong thing.
If we need to have a separate state for the achievement of development, then how we are going to do it after getting the statehood. By involving students in agitations, we are weakening the foundations of the development of the future state. Do we wish to have doctors, engineers, technicians, lawyers and civilians for the future state who are incompetent and were not properly educated and groomed to succeed in life. I am afraid the politicians may go ahead and cancel the exams or go for the mass promotions and passing of all students who were not properly qualified. Definitely this will be a burden to the society and to the new statehood. For the development of the state it is essential to have strong base of the self reliance.
Remember the statehood is not the answer for the development. Those who are responsible for the sufferings and losses, for the use of wrong means chosen for achieving the low political goals and fulfilling the vested interests of the politicians, are never going to be excused in future by the students who are suffering the most at present.

Neelam Ravi said...

To be or not to be is always a struggling issue for the politicians as they have to hold on to the lifeline of commoners to get themselves out of any kind of quicksand, that they are busy deep burying themselves in. Alas! the results are never pleasantly surprising, they come out rather murkier and stinkier. Wonder, how many would like to pull out such soggy 'diapers' that need to be changed!

Neelam Ravi

Laxmi Shobha said...

Hey John Lennon your imagination is difficult to b true.. i only enjoy it singing...lol

Lavanya said...

hi mam, this article is the reflection of my thinking.I would like to putforth my only concern to the politicians "who are all d people.. going to get the cream out of this agitation?"and now when we look back after these agitations without any result......., we are all left with wasting of our valuable time which cannot be returned by these politicians...!!

CHAITANYA.K.V(VIG) said...

Hi ma'm, this is a very interesting article!!! I think and I hope that all politicians read this informative and intresting article which may open their eyes.