Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Election promises, Is that what people need?

As January advances through her third week, temperature is going further down. Last day my friend was complaining about the low temperature in the recent Bangalore nights. It was lower than the previous year, but compared to northern India we in Deccan are blessed with a comfortable weather. But this low temperature doesn’t create any problem for the promises coming out of various party head quarters in Delhi. Water in Yamuna may reduced to the dangerous level threatening the existence of beautiful TajMahal, but the political promises cooked in capital is increasing its strength day by day.

I was going through the election promises by various parties, but what shocked me were two reports about the plight of rural society. According to a report on The Hindu,

"Four days after she was beaten up, stripped and paraded in her own village, 42-year-old Dalit widow Rekha Arun Chavan wonders if she would have lived a life of more dignity had she been born in an upper caste." What was her fault? Her son allegedly eloped with a Maratha girl.

The second report (TOI) was form Kutch,

"As part of age-old practice of branding kids in the supposed belief that it will cure them of their ailments, a two-and-a-half-year-old girl was branded twelve times on her abdomen in the remote Vagad village of Kutch district...girl was branded with hot iron on her lower chest and upper part of the abdomen."These are not isolated cases happening in some remote locations of the country. When the recent BBC show mocked our culture we were all standup against the mighty broadcaster against the show. But are we really prepared to stand up against the weakness in our society?

People in Uttarakhand will be more interested in living with their own hard earned money than government's unemployment allowance. Give them an opportunity; they will make the state the ‘Switzerland of India’ - original promise given to them while creating a separate state. More than reservation minority (as well as majority) need assistance for education and starting up new busines.
So as the case with Punjab, Hindustan Times reports that,

"According to official data of the poll body, a total cash of Rs 18.84 crores was seized by these teams, while other seizures included - poppy husk 2,101 kg, illicit foreign liquor 36 lakh Milli Litres (ML) and 82,782 bottles of country wine."

The amount mentioned is not in some thousands or lakhs, but a whopping 19 crores; from where this unaccounted money came?

The promises should be something which gives people a hope to live, not something which will divide them further. A hope which will make them believe that we are also a part of society, instead of making them believe that they are separate by strengthening the division based on caste and religion. A hope which guarantees that they will get equal opportunity, instead of classifying them based on their birth - which in any way is beyond our control. A guarantee that they will get quality education and other government services on an equally likely basis instead of begging (and paying) in front of officials for getting the benefits they are legally entitled to. Let's create a manifesto which will be forward looking instead of pulling the back.

Sajeev.

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