Even after seven decades of independence we remain bracketed in the category of corrupt nations and have failed miserably to provide clean, honest and efficient delivery and governance system to our people. Barring sloganeering, our political class remains mired in the cesspool of corruption while preaching moral rhetoric to the citizenry. The chasm between words and deeds is constantly broadening in those who are at the helm today or were yesterday, writes former IAS officer V.S.Pandey
We are celebrating our 77th Independence Day. It is one of the proudest moments in every Indian’s life and we must celebrate it optimally and commemorate those who worked fearlessly and tirelessly for decades, to oust the occupiers from our mother land. However, this monumental achievement should not obscure the challenges our nation faces even today after more than seven decades of self-rule.
Today is the time to introspect whether we have succeeded in fulfilling the great vision envisaged in our Constitution by our visionary forefathers. We need answers to the questions confronting us for years, but none is there to answer- why even today we have nearly 40 crore poor people struggling to meet their daily basic requirements. Why have we failed to secure for all our citizens social and economic justice and equal status and opportunity as enshrined in our Constitution?
These challenges are by no means insurmountable. Many nations have been able to provide decent, respectable living conditions to their citizens. But our failure on this account is humungous to say the least. It is shameful that high net worth people are leaving our country in hordes, if reports appearing in media are to be believed. It is not normal when even successful people start deserting their country. But who is heeding this exodus? It seems these alarming developments are falling on deaf ears. We must also introspect why our education and health delivery systems have remained rotten for decades and why none propagating different ideologies, while in power, ever bothered to correct these most critical conditions required for building a strong nation.
Not only that, even today we remain bracketed in the category of corrupt nations and have failed miserably to provide clean, honest and efficient delivery and governance system to our people. Barring sloganeering, our political class remains mired in the cesspool of corruption while preaching moral rhetoric to the citizenry. The chasm between words and deeds is constantly broadening in those who are at the helm today or were yesterday.
The politics of dividing on caste and communal basis alongside the shadows of black money clouding our political horizon had to have its deleterious impact on our country. The citizenry of every country has to take responsibility to enforce corrective steps to take the nation on its course to greatness. We just cannot evade our duty and say what can we do? In a democracy, it is the responsibility of the people to ensure that politics remains rooted in principles and politicians are allowed to act only according to the constitution -with no deviations allowed. Dr B.R.Ambedkar, the architect of our constitution wrote that democracy requires existence of a moral order in the society. He professed that politics cannot be devoid of ethics. The Government passes the laws and implements them but unless there is morality in the society- law alone cannot achieve any success. “A politician”, he said, “does not merely trade in politics, but he also represents a particular faith covering both the method as well as the metaphysics of politics”. He further said that, “Politics has become a kind of sewage system intolerably unsavory and insanitary. To become a politician is like going to work in the drain”. Therefore, he had no faith in value-free politics. Once he reportedly said that, “politics has become a game of scoundrels but for me it is a mission”.
Henry David Thoreau, the famous thinker and naturalist in his essay “Civil Disobedience “dwelt upon the responsibility of individuals in any society. He wrote that it is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right. He strongly advocated action by every right-thinking individual to act to correct the malaise afflicting society. He wrote “What is the price-current of an honest man and patriot today? They hesitate, and they regret, and sometimes they petition; but they do nothing in earnest and with effect. They will wait, well disposed, for other to remedy the evil, that they may no longer have it to regret. At most, they give up only a cheap vote, and a feeble countenance and Godspeed, to the right, as it goes by them. There are 999 patrons of virtue to one virtuous man. But it is easier to deal with the real possessor of a thing than with the temporary guardian of it.”
We must stop abdicating our responsibilities. To ensure that our great nation with thousands of years of recorded history and possessor of great philosophical legacy regains its rightful place among the comity of nations. It is not enough to just keep lamenting about the current situation and keep blaming others rather than taking the required steps to remedy the situation. It is our responsibility, as citizens, to take necessary action to realize the dream our forefathers had envisioned for our nation. Let us stop being patrons of clean, virtuous governance and walk the ethical talk now.
(Vijay Shankar Pandey is former Secretary Government of India)
