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For Public Interest Subjects A Citizen's Anguished Thoughts In this page I express my anguish at the many evils in our society.I am not offering solutions in all cases. You are requested to convey your views and suggestions, if any,to me by e-mail.I shall study the suggestions and incorporate them,if found acceptable, on this page. Contents:
Bookmarks for quick access to Later Contents: Noise pollution is one of our greatest problems, specially in urban areas.The big culprits are often political parties and places of worship.In the past the police were often reluctant to interfere. A Madras High Court judgment had made it incumbent on the police to take action, even when the noise pollution is from religious functions or places of worship.This landmark judgment has been now upheld by the Supreme Court in a judgment delivered on Aug 30,2000. In our locality we had formed an informal organization CALM(Citizens Against Loudspeaker Menace)The colony welfare organization has instructed residents to flood the Police Station with phone calls in the event of obnoxious loudspeaker noise.This weapon is mostly effective. You too can try this! Many of our country's ills can be traced to the curse of sycophancy.The sycophant has only a one-point agenda viz personal gain.Only a leader of outstanding sagacity and dedication can see through the game and keep his balance.Most leaders fall prey to sycophancy and start believing in their own greatness and invincibility.Some in recent history have institutionalized sycophancy and encouraged the 'cut-out' and 'shawl' culture.A leader who is in the grip of sycophancy ultimately comes to grief. Why should a horde of people rush to the airport when the President,Prime Minister or Chief Minister proceeds on a tour?Why should all and sundry shower them with garlands and shawls?When a Minister or bureaucrat goes to see off or welcome a VIP, he does not pay for his transport or the garlands and shawls.These are paid for by the tax- payer.The VIP in the course of his tenure in office collects thousands of shawls and other gifts, originally paid for by the tax-payer.What happens to these 'assets' collected by the VIPs? Worship of a dynasty and projecting the off-spring of the dynasty is part of the culture of sycophancy.Even a new-born infant is hailed as a future Prime Minister, the only qualification being the accident of birth. A good deal of the corruption, which has given our country the dubious distinction of being among the most corrupt countries of the world, is also a product of the culture of sycophancy. When will our great country get over such evils and emerge as a 'heaven of freedom' as visualized by Tagore? 3.Ill-trearment of widows-a blot on Hinduism The inhuman treatment of widows has been and continues to be a blot on the Hindu community.This social evil has caused a great deal of pain to me. Widowhood is considered punishment for sins of the previous birth and the hapless widows are shunned by society and subjected to various kinds of ill-treatment.I give below three painful instances from my own experience:
Some 'holy' and 'learned' men do not permit widows in their presence.They are in fact forbidden to enter their premises.I have personal and painful experience of this. I know things have now changed and widow re-marriage is no longer a sin. In many parts of the country, widows even now receive shabby treatment.In'holy' places like Mathura and Gaya one can see the plight of the poor women.If a Roop Kanwar chose to burn herself on her husband's funeral pyre a few years back in Rajasthan,it was because life for widows in that State is living hell. No stigma was ever attached to a widower.The treatment of widows thus is gross gender discrimination. Equally reprehensible is the stigma attached to infertile women. My experience is limited to the practices in my own community.I will welcome information on how widows are treated by other communities, particularly by the Christian, Muslim and Sikh communities. In some 'backward' communities customs do exist for an honourable life for widows.I know of a barber family in my native place where an young widow was married to the bachelor younger brother of her husband and the couple lived happily for many years.This custom was mocked at by the 'forward' communities in the area, but in retrospect appears to be a healthy custom to protect widows. In all the shouting about women's' rights etc one hardly hears anything about stopping the ill-treatment of widows by the Hindu community.It is this and similar problems like female infanticide which should receive attention of social reformers, feminist groups and the Human Rights Commission. The National Human Rights Commission in an order in March 2001 has instructed that in government records the term 'widow' should be eschewed and istead the term 'wife of Late....' should be used.This is a laudable measure. 4.Cruel Exploitation of the Disadvantaged Fifty-three years after independence we still have human beings, without any protective clothing, entering sewerage manholes to clear blocks.This is a frequent sight in Tamil Nadu and elsewhere.Carrying of night-soil on the head has been prohibited by law.The infinitely worse practice of employing human beings in the aforesaid manner continues.It is significant that all the unfortunate persons employed for this work are from the disadvantaged sections of society.Not one party or leader 'championing' the cause of dalits has bothered to solve this problem or raised his/her voice against this shameful practice. During the past few years I have, through newspaper columns and by registered letters addressed to the President,Prime Minister,Chief Minister, leading politicians and some high-profile'intellectuals' tried to focus attention on this inhuman practice, with no success.I have been saying that a country which has launched its own satellites has the technological prowess to develop simple, cost-effective means of doing the dirty work.A brain-storming session involving the IITs and leading technocrats will find a solution.All these pleas have fallen on deaf ears and the cruel exploitation of the unfortunates continues. Fore more details and recent developments Click here. In our country VIP security has become a big joke and racket.The tax-payer is being made to foot the bill for providing security to an increasing number of politicians, bureaucrats and their family members.Flaunting the red lights on cars and black-cat commandos have become status symbols. There have been many instances when women in labour and patients in serious condition have not been able to reach hospitals in time because roads were blocked for VIP movement.I wonder if such things are permitted in any other democratic country. A certain degree of threat from terrorist organizations is an occupational hazard, which those who enter politics must be prepared to face.Those who espouse unpopular causes must be willing to face such threats.No one is forced to enter politics.It is purely voluntary.Our polticians and ex-bureaucrats are certainly not paupers. The craze for having security provided by the State will get reduced if the protectees are made to pay a percentage of the cost.This is similar to the principle of co-payment in medical insurance to prevent unneccessary calls to the doctor. Why only politicians and senior bureaucrats require security?Thousands of other public servants in the government and even private sector have to face threats to themselves and their family members,specially during times of industrial strife.Who protects them? In 1961 during the railway strike there was real threat of kidnapping of my 4-year old son to force me to stay away from work.I was merely informed of the threat by my superiors.No protection was offered to my family when I was away for days on duty.I had to myself move them to a safe place. A colleague of mine was the victim of a murderous assault in Asansol for doing his legitimate work.He has an impaired speech ever since.There are thousands of such cases. The tax-payer must raise his voice against the spending of astronomical amounts for the security of the so-called VIPs. Political parties based on castes pose a grave danger to our countryThese parties have become numerous in number after the mandalisation introduced with good intentions by V P Singh and blessed by the Supreme Court.Such caste-based parties have a one-point programme of securing for the castes advantages specially in the sphere of government employment. Government jobs have become gold mines in the atmosphere of corruption.The caste-based parties directly benefit from patronage by caste-based appointees. Many of these caste-based parties have further splintered due to ego clashes among the leaders, with names having a variety of suffixes within brackets. In Tamil Nadu alone there are caste-based parties representing Dalits, Vanniars, Thevars, Yadavas etc.In caste-dominated states like Bihar and UP, the situation is worse. In the era of coalition governments and jumbo-sized cabinets, a party with only one or two members in the legislature can secure ministerial berths.Such ministers spend hundreds of crores of tax-payers' money for furthering their caste and sectarian interests and for humouring their vote-banks.These are done by misuse of ministerial powers with active connivance of pliant and hand-picked bureaucrats.The principle of collective responsibility of the cabinet and overall national interests are ignored The remedy is to amend the Constitution and Representation of People Act to prohibit parties who overtly or covertly want to futher caste interests.Does the nation have the political will for such bold steps? Await more such items on this page You too can contribute to this page by e-mailing write-ups to me. About myself & this site The Bright Face of India The Bright Face of India-II For A Clean Face Of India Preventable Train Accidents Consumer Problems Suggestions!Suggestions! 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