What, is the point of independence?
The past few days, this thought has been weighing on my mind.
On one side we have the neighbours egging us to go to war with them. Really pushing us to the edge of what we can bear as a tolerance and peace loving nation. The media is egging the government, not truly understanding the cost of war. The cost, at the least will be tens of thousands of soldiers who will die in the front line. It will go on for years. We will have to get used to seeing body bags regularly. And if it happens to turns for the worst, then be ready for atrocious acts (as never felt or heard before) to happen right in front of our eyes and we being nothing but helpless about it.
It is brilliant content for the media. It is a bad deal for the soldiers we are going to send to sacrifice their lives. It's a bad deal for people who are going to live through it.
But it's just that tiny little country called Pakistan right? Well, not exactly. If we attack Pakistan, be certain that China will hit us. Read up on CPEC (China Pakistan Economic Corridor) and why it is important to them. They will defend it at all costs.
That's on one side, where there is an enormous sacrifice that we are willing to make, to protect the idea of "India".
If we step back and look inside though ...
A group of us are working on putting together a non-profit / volunteer driven initiative to unite folks together and make them more participatory in society. It shouldn't take a flood to unite us, was our logic. Imagine if we could have that level of brotherhood and unity among us - or even a fraction of it - throughout the year.
Every meeting we have had with the 100 plus government officials more or less circles around these three questions:
- Don't you guys have anything else to do?
- Are you planning on starting a new party or something? Are you representing the case of <insert any of the mainline news reported group conflicts here>?
- Okay, so you are doing this for a cause. How do we benefit out of this commercially or get political mileage?
If you can't answer that third question, just about nothing - no matter how awesome or relevant it is, it goes nowhere. Commercial means, a project which involves several 100s or 1000s of crores, where you garner the public support but the powers that be and their affiliated orgs will get the contract and fill their coffers.
In my mind I am unable to differentiate between a mafia that lashes out and favors those that are under their protection, and the government we elect into power. Yet, this is the government that we keep electing back into power over and over again. It is supposed to be that, once elected you take on the position. You are no longer a party man (or woman) but someone who represents the overall interest and will act in the interest of everyone, not just those who voted for you or cheer for you. But that is never the case. We usually have party people in power - alternatively given power where for that period of time they have the power to loot the country and use the opportunity as they see fit.
They loot during the time that they are in power that they can use a portion of the money (mere fraction) announcing schemes and freebies that buys the silence of the mass public who will vote them back into power, to give the whole atrocious act another go. Where does this cycle break? Nobody who is ever decent, has long term goals of building up this nation, can ever come into power in this country. That's the fact.
In my mind, there are four players in play. The Government (that is corrupt to the core). The Armed Forces (which has its own fair share of shady deals), the Citizens (who have pretty much outsourced their responsibilities and pretty much will elect people into power who will give freebies rather than build up this country and do fair governance).
Tell me again, What, is the point of independence? Do we even deserve it?
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I've always believed in the vision of India. I love this country. I am proud of its history and heritage. But I am deeply worried about where we are and where we are heading. We are starting a movement that makes democracy complete - we the people HAVE to get involved in both complimentarily aiding the government when it comes up with plans that are good for the country in the long term, and must hold the elected officials accountable when there is an abuse of the duty that they are expected to perform. Let's atleast start with doing our duty. Take the pledge. Join the movement.
Curating an Enhanced Client Experience by Empowering Teams to Deliver Project.
8 年Vijay Anand, independent is relevant when their is a value system or a common cause that fuels independence. India under the leadership of Nehru used independence to move the country forward. As the memory of British rule was fresh in the minds of the people and the leaders. This memory united India and its people for a while then as the memories fade and a new generation came on who heard about British rule but never experienced it and so the memory faded and the country got caught up in the throes of the economic cycle to define itself as industrious nation leaving the country without a cause or value system for independence.
Entrepreneur | CTO at Masters India
8 年Grt read
Training / Counselor / Industrial Engineering / Software Developer / Life Planner and General Insurance Proposer
8 年In-dependence. We are completely soaked in dependence of each other. Let us understand how this country, India will make every other country dependent on us someway or other? To a large extent Pakistan is dependent on Indus water. Is Pakistan dependent on India. Yes their export of terror is primarily India dependent. Why is our Defense system unable to detect and prevent these acts of terror? Proper security, preventive, self defense systems will blunt these attempts of terrorism. Offensive steps will never prevent these militants to shun terror, but wait for appropriate place and time to plan again. Militants are like parallel administration. Assume that the government's role is made effective through these parallel administration. Actually, militants themselves have declared independence. This proxy war is actually interdependence between two countries. These terrorism acts are like accidents and must be prevented. These unsafe actors to be eliminated and this is a continuous process. Security and defense are also the roles of any independent establishment.
accountent
8 年https://www.snaukriform.in/2016/09/uttarakhand-subordinate-service.html
Founder - Skelacademy
8 年Well said Ahok, Roger that delegates