NONSENSE TALK VIII..............

All is not well in our democracy. We are living in that age where talking about poor and their rights, talking about genuine problems, talking against feudal forces and government considered as blasphemous.  Every government and all political parties are claiming high that they are the only savior of the poor. If you do not believe it, just see the face book account of all of them. All the accounts are colored with development works, inclusive growth and striving for real democracy. But what these political parties and their political bosses are claiming on public sites, are they really concerned about these issues, I have doubts.

We have been listening right from the childhood that in democracy we the people are supreme. We are the integral part of democracy, we elect the government and we decide the fate of the country. Appears cool as cucumber! If we are really powerful, if we are really so important in the democratic process then why some of us are living a squalid, wretched, subdued and fearful life? Why almost one third population of our country is leading a life less than human? Why a large number of our fellow countrymen still do not feel a part of pristine and progressive democracy?

Now question arises, whether our country is on the path of development or deterioration? If our country is on the path of development, then whose development it has been doing? Every government boasts about a lot of development plans, programmes and schemes but at the end of the day what kind of achievement these development processes are bringing to the poor; this is the matter of speculation.

Ask any government about development and you will be bombarded by statistics. How much these numbers/ statistics are true, it is always a matter of debate. Recently I had a lengthy discussion on this subject with one of my friends. Being a petty officer in state government, my friend thought, it was his natural duty to defend the government. In fact, he was defending his miniscule sincere development work. My intention was not to upset him but at the same I did not want him to shy away from the realities. His discussion was full of numbers and statistics. Government gave this much thousands houses free under IAY scheme ,that much crores were given  as wages under NREGS, that much lakhs families getting subsidized ration under PDS and that much jobs are generated for the poor. He kept on eulogizing free education and health services in the state.  . When he exhausted with all details and data, then I asked him some questions:-

Ø  Do the poor have voice?

Ø  Do they believe in the system?

Ø  Are they real beneficiary of the government scheme?

Ø  What is the standard of the services provided by the state for the poor?

Ø  Does government ensure the dignified life to the poor?

All the government programmes on the paper appear quite attractive and path breaking. All poverty alleviation programmes talk about empowerment of poor, giving them a voice and sense of worth but why the same programmes fail to translate on the ground. How disturbing it looks when we read the news that a wage earners hand was chopped off because he was unable to pay 300 rupees to moneylender and when he goes to police station, Superintendent of police says it a concocted story. In such a feudalistic system where the victims are not heard properly then how people will believe in the system? How shocking it is, when a teenager poor girl is raped in the running train and when she complains, the head of the state blames to opposition to defame the government. How much faith that girl will have in the elected representative? How shameful it is when a large number of farmers and the poor commit suicide and the state try to put blame on victims rather than owing the responsibilities of murders.  When such incidents occur at that time all the statistics, all the numbers appear fraud, misleading and utter nonsense.

A very noxious trend is developing in our democracy, if you are a poor, government will dole out some life saving necessities but you are not expected to speak, you are not expected to weep, you are not expected to whine and you are not expected to complain. What you are expected to do is to be gentle, docile, meek and suffer the humility meted out by the system. As you are poor, you are expected to live like a poor. Do not question the authority, do not speak up, just shut up and accept the situation.

Kudos to our democracy! Kudos to our feudal system!

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Ramanuj Dubey