Today if anyone asks me my opinion on elections or Indian politics, my first reaction is that I am not in the least interested in politics. And then I ask myself the same question and wonder why? I live in this society, experience the pain of people, even share their grief and yet am so disheartened. But this despair is a result of my helplessness, my inability to do nothing about the situation. As a writer, I do write and my feelings do get printed, but there is no feedback. And yet I write, about the questions that pop up in my mind, or the issues I bring out in my writings. On these very topics, I pen down my recent thoughts. Today’s democracy is totally dependent on society. If society is inclined towards education, honesty and work ethics, only then will our politicians and bureaucrats be educated, honest and diligently do their work and then the faith will be restored. Which is why society will have to improve. The roots are in society and there is an urgency to construct such a society so that able leaders with proper ideals lead the people. Today if someone becomes rich everyone just brushes him or her aside as a wealthy person. No one pays any attention to how so much wealth was accumulated in so little time. And that is the more important issue—the means used to obtain wealth are equally important. Even Gandhiji used to say this. In the past 50 years, ambitions have soared. It is a good thing. But at the same time, the tilt towards money has also increased and inter-personnel relations have suffered. In this gold rush people have forgotten to use their brains. According to me the reason for this is the paucity of good news and the lack of praise. Like we casually mention the wealth of a person, why aren’t we able to comment on a person’s generosity or his or her helpful nature? It’s the same case with education, which is the very basis of democracy. Unfortunately, at present, the meaning of education has been reduced to collecting degrees. In big cities there is still some semblance of education, but in the rural belt, the responsibility to educate ends with the admission process. Governments are satisfied opening schools. Once I asked a senior bureaucrat if his children studied in the schools they opened. He promptly asked me if I was crazy and why anyone would put their children in these ‘‘bad schools’’! I recall a phrase I often heard in our house when I was growing up. Women always said that if you hired a cook then always make sure to feed him also because that would ensure that he made tasty food. Similarly one would want only such schools in which all children can study, otherwise what is the use of democracy? Maybe it is because of the fact that I am unable to solve these dilemmas that I lose heart and am so sad. (DR Chandramani Singh Historian and Writer who is also a senior fellow at the indian history council) POLLPOURRI
