Development and Democracy in India: A Rhetoric Cataclysm

A patriarchal benevolent approach is on a verge of extinction. Hard fought 1900 years of freedom are fearful of feasibly be doomed with every passing phase since 1964 (Panditji’s death).

A truly dedicated, citizen friendly, learned, pro-Indian & pro-poor statesman hardly exist today. India irrespective of being a democratic edifice appears as if losing its grip over the premise behind democracy.

Living like a phoenix epitomizes India’s epithet. We have gone through a lot from time to time, the antagonists have tried every now & then to lay us on a pyre but every time we have aroused from ashes and fought hard against the odds.

Adhering to the ideology of ’wiping every tear from each eye’ is desideratum for the largest democracy in the world. The struggle against savage vices and British imperialism sounds worthless today. The Swaraj & struggle for whom? Is it for the affluent or pauper, for VIPocrates, elitocrates, bureaucrats, moneyocrates or destitute,  adivasis , downtrodden and needy.

The word democracy is no more than a rhetoric as practiced in India. It is not of secular, democratic & socialist ilk as spirited under Constitution rather lies in the latter.

Such a practice can debauch, drug or deprave any socialistic benevolent masterpiece. The term democracy is well explained by Nobel laureate Prof. Amartya  Sen he asserts “a democratic society is, where people are free  to make choices is  better equipped to tackle poverty”.

The ever widening gap between the affluent & poor is a matter of concern and it cannot be tackled on paper. The erstwhile Prime minister late Mrs. Indira Gandhi in 1972 U.N. The General assembly meeting said, ”of all the pollutants we face, the worst is poverty”  supplementing the statement she asserted,” poverty & development are two great polluters on earth, while development has a remedy but poverty doesn’t”.

No doubt it’s a conundrum as population is the greatest obstacle in tackling poverty but political and permanent executives will have to join hands and keep aside egocentric character and ivory tower while addressing the public concerns.

Bharat Nirman, various Sadak yojanas, energy providing schemes are no doubt need of the hour, the real focus of government agencies, NGOs, civil societies and even citizens should be over development of a man than things.

Development and infrastructure building are two paraphernalia, where former must emphasize on   educating the masses than classes, adhering to righteousness, believing in national and cultural ethos, arousing compassionate feelings   and the latter confines itself to business activities & economic excellence.

Development in academia needs a debate because anti-social, profit seeking institutes will not educate the young rather prepare them for the market  and in humanistic  world.

This privatized, westrostudy, market oriented edifices lack will develop a clement  man. Education in vogue is a luxury to a common Indian, which does nothing more than attiring children in flamboyant  wardrobe . THE government might have brought  RTE Act and indicated it in the Constitution as a fundamental right under Article.21 (A) but it’s still way behind in spirit. Existence & efficacy are two different things, RTE may exist in latter but unless it’s effectively implemented its worthless.

Various state governments do have the money to meet expenses for setting up parks, gardens for their mentors, visiting abroad for medical treatments, garlanding their respective govt. heads rather than sharing the responsibility for implementation of RTE Act. Each govt. plays its own flute than being transparent and accountable to common man.

American jurist, J. Jerome Frank wrote:”in a democracy it can never be unwise to acquaint  the public  with the truth about workings of any branch of government. It is wholly undemocratic to treat public as children who are unable to accept the inescapable shortcomings of man-made institutions.”

The whole of Sher Shah Suri road has been restructured  since last year & a half the real essence behind it may be owing to infrastructural development, but it has taken a toll over environment the majority of trees and agricultural land have been uprooted. I bewail over such an anti-nature activity besides the work being lingering on. The disruption caused due to it has increased  the accidents per day. Mr. Prime minister such infrastructural development is  of no use which takes a toll over the lives of humans because every single death reduces   human resource capital.

The  government has to restrict itself from grabbing land holdings under the garb of eminent domain. The strength of Indian economy lies in the agriculture excellence  so it requires attention. Increasing number of business houses, industry, shopping malls and other western oriented club house might seek foreign tourists for us but the destitute, tribes,  peoples, the ones who after  day’s  long toil fails to earn themselves two times of meal i.e. the real Indians will keep on committing  seppuku(vidharbha epitomizes it best ).

In the span of last 65 years our achievements  have been remarkable and deserves applause. The nation claims meritocracy but the ground stands flimsy while coming across the facts that the indigent have gone from bad to worse, mediocre have not improved even a bit and the affluent has stolen the show to the utmost possible extent. A certain  report has mentioned India as a nation where the majority is satisfied with the condition they are  it is not because all is well, the reason is we acclimatize ourselves to the situation.

There’s nothing for which government can  pat its back its all because of a  famous satire ‘yaar democracy hai aise hi chalta hai’. The basic idea of democracy is to provide the stakeholders right to question than asking them to adjust with the on-going instances. It is often heard the state protects one’s rights from womb to tomb but the valued side of the coin holds adjustment, which accompanies one & all from cradle to grave.

The so called human protection & preservation laws needs to be done away with and treat all with the ideals enshrined in the bible of Indian democracy i.e. ‘The constitution of India’. The time has come to transform India into utopia, a living paradise on mother earth. This leap has to be careful sans disturbing the nature.

The stakeholders are in a state of revulsion the governments can only control this upheaval rage by being courteous to the claims & issues up its sleeves. We do not expect a clairvoyant gift but any kind of procrastination in addressing the claims will add fuel to the fire and can lead to an exodus.

The issues concerning Maoists, Jammu & Kashmir can only be handled by exonerating them and through plebiscite. We agree that government is in a state of bewilderment but a true essence of Indianisation  can only be met with by weaving  each & every strata of society in one fabric, ‘secularism’. The honourable supreme court while wording an orbiter dictum in valsamma paul v. Cochin university said,” Pluralism is a keystone of Indian culture and religious tolerance is the bedrock of Indian secularism”.

The grieved` and his clamour needs to be addressed through justice, liberty &  equality mentioned in Pt. Nehru’s objective resolution and  by inserting in the minds of each Indian the feeling of fraternity and assuring them  dignified life.

The rhetorics are no more serving the purpose and proving to be socio-political cataclysm.  The ball is in the government’s court now, it is for them to decide that whether they are ready to handle the fringe elements with iron hand who vandalize the democratic ethos or keep on paying attention to skirmish occurring in the streets.

The two D’s (development & democracy) can only be delivered by adhering to the Gandhian ideology of participative govt. and not by Britisher’s trickledown theory that leaves the least addressed to their kismet. In a democracy fair justice is a legal claim therefore, “any law which violates indefeasible rights of a man is unjust & tyrannical, is not a law at law”.-Robespierre caveat.

By

Vishal Moudgill (A Law Graduate and an I.A.S aspirant)

Email: vishal.moudgill84-at-gmail.com