The Delhi High Court has stayed the building of that terrible memorial the police memorial in Chanakyapuri. Three cheers. The struggle and fight will continue because, predictably, the police lot will appeal to the Supreme Court for the final verdict instead of accepting the wrong they have committed. This is a victory for the Delhi chapter of Intach, hitherto without real teeth but finally doing what its mandate demands.
Being an active and vigilant watchdog will be salutary for Delhi. Intach nationwide should take a page out of Delhi?s book on such issues and move petitions in state High Courts to ensure protection of our legacies for the future generations of Indians.
Because ?breaking the rule? has ironically become the rule of law, citizens have to police their environment as do voluntary organisations. The law courts are there to ensure the mandatory and statutory support. This situation symbolises a complete dilution of civilised norms that have been initiated by our many authorities. The many devious nexuses between vested interest groups and the ?authority? are common knowledge to all but alas, the outright corruption continues unabated as does the harassment for exposing this reality. A new generation of Indians must force the end of this.
If in every constituency of India, and there are 500 odd, one issue is fought to conclusion, a new trend of civility in living and respect for the citizen will set in and gradually replace the monstrous image of the authority. We are a great subcontinent and have to restore our dignity, celebrate our people. We have to pay our tributes to those who have smiled and survived despite it all.
Thank heavens Somnath Chatterjee is beaming the proceedings in Parliament on TV for the country to see how their representatives behave ? both when in the treasury benches and in the opposition. The chameleon-like change is scary because it is clearly only to shout and scream and up the ante rather than discuss and debate issues together in an attempt to solve the problems that confront India. Prancing around, yelling and raising fists, looking and behaving like people who are irresponsible, petulant and indisciplined, the opposition benches should watch their step. The public are sick and tired of these superficial antics and can see through the old fashioned games.
The public also know that when warrants are issued to appear in court after 20-odd years, there must be some daal mein kala! Where was the police for all those years? Shibu Soren is bound to absent himself, get bail and reappear. That?s what the strange laws and their often arbitrary application in our country compel people to do. The public knows well that the police happily act on the behest of their political leaders, more often than not, and could well be part of some vested interest operation. Indians, by and large, do not trust their leaders or the institutions that come together as the grand authority. If a reform does not happen, a revolution will!
If only the Left would mature like a good wine. In a changed world they should put pressure on government to deliver all the essential needs and services to the people across all economic strata. Electricity and power, roads, water, schools and health services should be their priority and should grab their total attention. They must leave the service sector free. FDI in airport development is very necessary. Why battle it? Do for the lesser privileged and let the privileged do what they have to do for themselves. This is the challenge for any and every government regardless of ideology. It is what the people want. The people are not in a time warp ? the politicians are.
And, entrepreneurship of all variety continues to blossom despite the hurdles. In Jodhpur, at a shop called Lalji?s, all manner of new and imaginative bits and pieces have entered his range of goods. From old Marcovitch Black and White Virginia cigarette tins, to paper labels that were wrapped around bales of cloth, they have found their way into this home of goodies from where they will be exported out into the greater world!
People are ingenious when it comes to identifying junk, a previous generation?s discards, all recycled in an effort to create a new product for a new market. The quaint paper labels have been framed for the wall ? two cupids holding up the name of the manufacturing company and in the middle, a macho man with his gun resting on a dead tiger!
These contrasts make India unusual and therefore intriguing. If only government got on with the delivery of a well-oiled and functioning infrastructure, we could get on with making our lives productive. Allow us.