More than 80% of the Indian population comes under the
middle-class category and the middle-class people have their own set of woes.
They are under the impression that our country is ill and sick. The topic
sounds bad, I know, but are we better than what our forefathers were in their
yester years. Our incomes have increased and so have the prices. The employment
opportunities have increased and so has the rate of unemployed population. We
scream and screech but no one hears us. And no doubt, we ourselves are
responsible for the chaos around us. We give our opinions about the corrupt
ministers we have but do not exercise our vote in choosing the right kind of
leader. We complain that only thieves, criminals, and tricksters stand for the
elections but we ourselves do not wish to participate in the political system
or the election process. We complain about issues but do nothing to resolve
them. The definition of democracy seems so vague in the minds of the people
that lot many people would not even care to give a second thought about it. We
were taught in our childhood that India is a democratic country by definition
and that how it was constituted and is governed till date. But true to the
sense, least know, including me, the proper impression of democracy. Democracy
is in a proper sense, a system of government by the whole population or all the
eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives. But is
that so in our country? Do we have a firm determination to determine and
dissolve the disputes that have arisen around us? Had we understood the true
impact of our indolence and negligent attitude towards our country, we would
have surely found that the solutions to the problems lie deep within us, inside
us, and around us.
Let us talk about the issues at hand and the simple ways to
resolve them:
Problem 1: Inefficacious politicians: We have the worst bunch of representatives in both the
Parliament. Only people who have managed to do nothing in their lives and have
been failures in each sphere of life consider politics as a last resort to earn
and sustain themselves.
Resolution: We need to come to the fore and participate in the
political system. We need not represent any political party. We just need to
represent the society we belong to. Like-minded people can come together, form
a political party, and contest elections. There are so many ways of letting
voters known about their agenda for getting selected by the masses.
Problem 2: Corrupt people at the
helm of affairs: We have criminals deciding about
our country and making laws accordingly. Can the nation be left at the hands of
felonious and villainous people?
Resolution: We do not vote; in fact we consider our
voting day as another privileged holiday. So ministers are able to sway
illiterate and ignorant people by giving them gifts and money and dividing the
nation on communal and religious grounds. In the end, we end losing our brave
policemen like Zia-ul-Haq and wriggle with pain under goons like Raja Bhaiya.
Problem 3:
Unemployment: More than half the
population is unemployed. Everyone wants a job like the other one irrespective
of their abilities and the vacancies available. Not everyone can land with
their kind of dream job, but are jobs in government or private sectors the only
ways to earn money?
Resolution: What about skilled professions? Instead of spending lakhs to
get a job, why not invest your time in learning a skill, which can earn you
money and also does not leave you unemployed. Being employed does not necessarily
mean sitting in a cubicle and working. It simply means a way to earn money with
respect and confidence, and that can also be achieved by developing skills like
drawing, cookery, beauty courses, hair cutting courses, designing, wedding
planner, interior decoration, carpentry, electric wiring, repairing of
electrical goods and electronic items, knitting and tailoring, basic computer
skills, and others which readers of this blog may be aware of.
Problem 4: Pollution: We complain about the deteriorating condition of our
environment, but are not we ourselves responsible for it? Depleting natural
resources, thick smog around us, suffocating atmosphere, dropping oxygen
levels, increase of carbon monoxide and other harmful gases into our ecosystem,
toxic material found in water bodies, eroding quality of soil, lowering level
of water table, fading away of farmlands and grasslands, extinction of various
species of birds and animals, etc...Over dependence on fossilized fuels,
inability to use substitutes for our fuels, inappropriate and unconditional
mining, wastage of water, diversion of waste materials into our waters,
emission of poisonous gases into our ecosystem, inefficient harvesting of rain
water, lack of proper controls for emission by various industries and many
other practices followed in our country have forced us to consider the
consequences of the changing environment on our future and the unborn.
Resolution: We can definitely do our bit to
bring about a change in he environment we are in. Cooking by electrical
appliances, use of public transport, getting CNG cylinders fitted to our
vehicles, use of substitutes in place of natural resources, less honking while
driving, discard use of plastic bags, making our children aware about the
causes and consequences of pollution are the least we can do to keep pollution
at check, lest we are unable to bring it down.
Problem 5: Global warming: People consider it a fashion to talk about global warming
without understanding the effects of it.
Resolution: To understand the effects, we first
need to understand the causes of it and the main reasons which have led to
global warming. Dealing with ideas and methods to prevent global warming is not
fashionable; it is a necessity, which has to be understood as a basic essential
for living.
Problem 6: Hunger: This is the worst form of sickness
prevailing due to massive poverty. Increasing industrialization has led to more
jobs surely, but only for a handful. Industrialization of the farmlands and
agricultural fields added to the existing misery of people who were dependent
on agriculture for their daily livelihood. The rest languish in poverty and
survive by fulfilling only their basic needs or indulge in criminal activities.
What starts as a necessity ends in a habit and then a sense of achievement by
indulgence in nefarious activities.
Resolution: Equal educational and employment
opportunities, grants to various government run and NGO run institutions, check
on the working of these institutions, taxes being employed for infrastructure
and beneficiary purposes, stress on skills instead of white-collared jobs and
proper regulations by the Government, aids to farmers, proper information
provided to farmers regarding farming and poultry can help in counteracting the
existing crunch of poverty and the dilemmas of void among our very own people.
Problem 7: Water and electricity
problem: Even though we have enough sources
of water in our country, still a majority of the inhabitants of our country
have to tackle the problem related to shortage of water and electricity supply.
Resolution: As usual, the resolution lies within
the problem and the problem lies in the roots of our short-sightedness,
tendency of wastage, and ineffective planning. Due to improper planning, most
of the rainfall flows into drains making it suitably unfit for drinking
purposes. Tendency of wastage is a born trait among us and we do not value the
drops we are lucky to receive and utilize for our daily needs.
Short-sightedness led to poor policies regarding water harvesting and hence
only a minor percentage of rainfall manages to get stored. Also, too much
reliance on our water bodies has dried them and depleted the water table. A bit
of interest from our side can do a lot. Water harvesting is not costly and its
methods are not difficult to be adopted, drainage systems can be improved upon
with a proper plan in place, and inclination of dissipation can be curbed.
Problem 8: Farmer suicides: Thousands of farmers, under the burden of debt and failure
of crops, are committing suicides every year. We read about them in our
newspapers, hear about them on our television sets, but do nothing to find a
substantial resolute to this grave issue.
Resolution: It is not that our Government has
not attempted to solve our farmers' problems but there is much more that needs
to be implemented. Also the corruption that has corroded the roots of our
country needs to be eroded at the grass root level.
Problem 9: Prostitution: Prostitution has been the oldest and dirtiest form of
profession adopted till date. The reasons for this are our societal tendency to
exploit the weaker sex, inconsideration of the women's respect, feeling of
power achieved by stripping the women of their modesty, sale or barter of women
by men for money or liquor, betting of women in gambling, rape and molestation
of women, and in the worst circumstances choice of this profession by women
owing to hunger, poverty, and family pressure.
Resolution: Exploitation of women is an outcome
of a negative mindset. The graph representing the number of atrocities
committed on the female folk has steadily been rising. Inappropriate security,
careless attitude of the police towards victims, inefficient nature of our
government, lack of proper and severe rules in place, and dragging of cases in
courts for long number of years have only added to the existing woes of the
people.
Problem 10: Crimes against women: We are not averse to what is happening around us; we are
just not bothered. Crimes against women include acid throwing, breast ironing,
bride burning, honor killing, dating abuse, domestic violence, marital rape,
sexual slavery, forced prostitution, forced abortion of female fetuses and many
others that we daily read about in newspapers or watch in crime-based shows. The
history of violence against women is tied to the history of women being viewed
as property and a gender role assigned to be subservient to men. The UN
Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women (1993) states that
"violence against women is a manifestation of historically unequal power
relations between men and women, which have led to domination over and
discrimination against women by men and to the prevention of the full
advancement of women, and that violence against women is one of the crucial
social mechanisms by which women are forced into a subordinate position
compared with men.” People are afraid to come forward to lend a helping
hand to the families of victims for fear of harassment by the police and
pressure caused due to threats by the culprits. But as citizens of civilized
society, can we allow this to continue for long? A free society should be
guarded by logic and reason, instead power and repression have taken their
places.
Resolution: Nothing would be more effective than changing the mindset of
the upcoming generation. It is hard to change the existing characteristic
mental attitude of our men, but we can definitely teach our children to respect
and consider equal the women around them. We have looked enough for resolution
against hate crime committed toward the women folk. Reserving coaches in trains
meant only for women, having buses exclusively for women, and other techniques
that virtually showed no effect or decrease in such crimes. The need of the
hour is to educate the women around us about their rights, freedom, liberties,
and the value they command in society. The need for the hour is to bring about
changes in the existing law and order of our country, to have more women in our
workforce, to instruct courts to provide judgment within a stipulated time
period, to have strict laws in place, and nevertheless, to introduce corporal
punishment to the accused of dowry killing and sexual violence. Corporal
punishment, though, argued by some to be in the spirit of retribution but can
our society do away by demeaning, women, the very backbone of the society. Can
we allow our mothers, sisters, and neighbors to be harassed and victimized?
Have we already failed in the making of a responsible nation?
