India's 64th Republic Day

Happy Republic Day!!.....64^th Republic Day of the Indian Republic……an eagerly awaited holiday…..a day to celebrate……a day to listen to patriotic music……a day for making and listening to speeches……or may be just another day for most of us…..But what if we take out some time today to sit back and reflect about the significance, meaning and a sense of responsibility attached to this day? 64 years back, on this very day, our newly independent nation formally adopted its Constitution and all its citizens pledged to abide by it. After a long and tedious process, the Constituent Assembly consisting of eminent personalities who had been assigned to this stupendous task, gave us this Constitution.

After 200 years of sweat, tears and blood, India had finally succeeded in gaining its independence on 15^th August 1947. The members of the Constituent Assembly had a momentous task ahead of them. They had to frame a Constitution suitable for a nation in the making, a nation in a nascent phase, taking baby steps towards establishing itself in the world. Bled for 200 long years by foreign rule and then disabled by amputating a part of it to form another nation, India was then a far cry from what it has been able to turn itself into today. Looking at its diversity in various spheres, it was confidently predicted by many that the existence of this “so-called nation” would be short-lived. These were the conditions in which our founding fathers were charged of giving this nation a befitting Constitution. Looking back, it would not be an exaggeration to say that given the circumstances and resources at their hand, our Constitution makers accomplished a near-impossible task in a praiseworthy manner. Given the state of the nation at that time, they felt it necessary and rightly so, to frame as detailed and voluminous a Constitution as they did. No doubt, India’s is the longest Constitution among all the nations of the world. They tried to lay down organizational structures, frame rules and regulations, provide frameworks and put forward their ideals and vision for the future of the nation.


But in no manner did they try to make it a rigid document. They were well aware that as times change and as the nation progresses, there is bound to be a need for updating the Constitution itself. They included suitable provisions for the same and relied on the Legislature and the Executive of the day to understand and use the same wherever and whenever required.On this Republic Day, let each one of us ask ourselves….Have we made a sincere effort in understanding and abiding by the aspirations and hopes of our founding fathers, laid before us through this document? Have we genuinely tried to understand the letter and more importantly the spirit of the Constitution? Have we been able to grasp the intent behind what was laid down? Have we been able to read between the lines whenever required?We won’t have to search hard for answers to these questions. They are right in front of us, if only we have the will and the courage to ask ourselves these tough but essential questions…. If only we have the courage to put ourselves in the dock. I leave all of you, the government and the governed alike, with these questions which all of us will have to answer for ourselves. Let us take some time to reflect today and who knows, this reflection may pave the road towards making our nation what its founding fathers had dreamt it to be. A few minutes of reflection and a sincere will for action on the part of each one of its citizens, may lead this great nation to its rightful place in the world.

A Golden Opportunity Squandered

I was reading an article in the Indian Express dated 20/01/2014, on how the Hampi Cultural Festival at Karnataka ended up in a complete disaster and a no-show. The festival organized by the government to promote the cultural heritage and tourism in Hampi could-not take-off at the scheduled time due to lack of audience and it could only begin when people were randomly picked up and forced to fill the empty chairs. The remaining days of the festival were an equal failure. This incident gains significance as it indicates our dismal track record in promoting tourism in our country.

It is a matter of fact and not exaggeration that India is the most unique country in the world in terms of its diversity in various spheres, be it geographical, seasonal, regional, religious, cultural, historical or spiritual. In my opinion, no country in the world has such tremendous potential for developing tourism as an industry as India has. We have all the raw materials in place and extremely favorable natural endowments. With not much genuinely focused and dedicated effort, we can reap the sweet fruits of these favourable conditions and in the process create huge earnings from the development of tourism industry. Unfortunately, this message has hitherto not reached those who are in-charge.

The efforts put-in by the central as well as state governments towards conserving our natural heritage and leveraging it to portray India as a major tourist attraction, have been lackadaisical to say the least. All the governments till date have failed to recognise the tremendous potential that this industry has in store for us. Or might we say that they are too busy with other “important affairs” that they neither have the time nor the inclination to pay attention to this triviality? Whatever the case, a golden opportunity is being squandered here and there is an urgent requirement for course correction.

The path is clearly laid out and fairly easy to follow. It only requires a sincere initiative and sustained support from the government. As is clear from the drastic failure of the Hampi festival, the government should not attempt to control and administer things in this sector. On the contrary, this is the most apt example of an area where it needs to act as a facilitator. Incentives need to be provided to the private sector to contribute towards the growth and development of this industry. New and creative initiatives need to be promoted. The archaeological, cultural and ecological institutes need to be encouraged and supported on a war footing. Preservation of monuments, cultural and heritage sites, ecological parks, etc. needs to be given the utmost priority. The cleanliness and maintenance of the tourist spots needs to be ensured.

Despite all this, all the efforts might still go in vain if another major factor is overlooked. For any destination to become a major tourist attraction, the foremost requirement is the presence of a conducive law and order environment. People need to feel safe in residing and travelling in their surroundings. This is an area where India scores extremely poorly. Maintaining law and order is, otherwise also, the first and the foremost function of any government. It will do a great service to its citizens if it performs this pivotal role efficiently and effectively.

This, in no way means, that we as citizens of this gifted nation have absolutely no responsibilities. The rich heritage handed down to us by our ancestors is our utmost treasure and should be treated and preserved in a befitting manner. The careless and callous attitude, with which we treat our surroundings, defiling and dirtying it with no qualms whatsoever, leaves a lot to be desired. Indian citizens have always been renowned for their hospitality, but the blatant fleecing of tourists and the increasing crime against women (including foreign nationals), are dangerous and growing trends and need to be dealt with appropriately.

It is not too late even now, for all of us to rise from our slumber and make a joint and concerted effort in helping our nation regain its rightful place in the world. Let us all take a pledge that we, as individuals, shall not turn a blind eye to our responsibilities and do whatever we can in our individual capacities, to fulfill our duties as responsible and worthy citizens of this nation.

The Intolerable Sin

I was mulling over what to choose to write on to kick-start my journey on this blog…and the choice finally did-not turn out to be a very tough one….I decided to write on something that has been bothering and disturbing me substantially for quite some time now – the inhumane incidents of rapes and sexual assaults on women. I would also like to purposely stick to this particular category of crime against women, because in my experience, it has had the ability of impacting me the most.

At the outset, when I started becoming aware of this issue and its magnitude, it generated a feeling of utter disbelief and numbness in me. I found it beyond myself to even imagine the state of mind of the victim after such a heinous act. And fathoming the state of mind of the perpetrators of such acts proved equally challenging. Till date, after reading about any such incident in the newspaper, that big “WHY?” raises its head in my mind. Is this phenomenon an offspring of the patriarchic set-up of our society? I used to consider this as a major cause, but my belief was challenged by the fact that this disease is rampant across the globe (and not just local to India), with not remarkable differences in degree and measure. Another fact which surprised me was the extent to which it goes unreported, and even if reported, unpunished. This is perhaps the only crime where the society chooses to treat the abused as the abuser. The social stigma which it attracts is so huge that the victim prefers to suffer in silence. This is the most unbelievable and contemptible part, which fills me with rage. In a way, such societal mindset creates a vicious circle wherein the perpetrator of the crime finds it too easy to commit such a blatant violation of an individual’s right to her body and not face any fitting retribution.

Are we comfortable with the status-quo? If yes, then God Bless Us. If not, what are we doing to change it? I, for one, am of the view that a genuine, meaningful, well-directed and sustained effort is required to tackle this phenomenon. It is high time for us to rise from our slumber and inertia and think and act with an intention to bring a positive change to the status-quo, and not just in short-lived spurts, but in a sustained manner. The first and the foremost step needed to accomplish this goal is also the most difficult. It involves a complete remodeling of the way in which we think. It involves dissolving the stereotypes created by us, which have tuned us to acknowledge another individual solely in terms of his/her gender, caste, class, religion and other such differentiators rather than his/her merit as just another individual irrespective of gender, caste class, religion etc. In a rapidly changing world and a fast-moving society, the temptations for quick-fixes and immediate gratification of sensual pleasures are also growing fast. It is compounded by the lack of effective, timely and exemplary retribution which such actions should rightfully entail. This is not only true for India, but is a disturbing reality world-wide. The flaw lies not in the enactment of laws, but their lax implementation. The dismal rate of reporting, the astoundingly low conviction rate and the excruciatingly long and painful durations of the trials don’t help in the least. In many of the cases, the victim is victimized over and over again by the very authorities and society, which are meant to respect her honor, uphold her rights as an individual and protect those rights if threatened.

In recent times, the print and television media have done praiseworthy work in highlighting the extent of penetration of this social ill in the society. The slow but steady trend of women empowerment has also resulted in loosening the strings of the tag of shame attached to this endemic disease. The awareness generated is instrumental in keeping the authorities on their toes. But these are just baby-steps and a lot still needs to be done.

Is there something that we, as individuals can do? The answer to this question is an emphatic YES. Society is an amalgamation of individuals and the responsibility for one’s own thoughts and actions lies with oneself alone. The most important contribution towards the well-being of society that each individual can make is to think and act responsibly under all circumstances. A change in the mindset of society simply means a change in the mindset of each and every individual that constitutes it. Once we do this, we could take further steps by creating awareness around us and adopting a zero-tolerance attitude towards such heinous crimes which plague the society. Each and every individual needs to pledge to educate oneself, his/her family members, especially women, and contribute towards spreading the message of an educated society in whatever capacity possible. Education here not only means just text-book education but a responsible, informed and balanced way of thinking.

It is high time that we give a serious thought towards building a more vibrant, free, fearless and livable world and follow it up with concrete, visible actions. It is the least we can do to fulfill our responsibilities as human beings gifted with the ability to think.