Major challenges call for all hands on deck

Constitution is not in ‘Khatra’, and democracy is not in danger. We have a robust and vibrant democracy. What we lack is a positive mindset among politicians. What we have is corruption fueled by greed for personal gain, abuse of power, unaccountable bureaucracy and vast dependence of politicians on voter inducements.

Once elections are over, the political parties that lose the elections want to pull down the party in power. They forget that the opposition party’s role is to work like chowkidars and give suggestions to the government, expose their omissions and commissions and present solutions to the problems. But what is happening is you install something; we will demolish it when we come to power.

It is ridiculous to exhibit such narrow thinking, and forget the fact that the government is a continuous process. Unless there is something seriously wrong with the decisions of the previous government, they should not be altered, merely based on whims and fancies of those in power.

Private sector, whether it be Ambanis and Adanis, Tatas or Birlas or other smaller players, all are critical for India’s economy as we need massive infrastructure push. But unfortunately, some of the leaders including those of national parties like Congress and some regional Satraps want to see them in jail without proving anything and are wasting the five-year period given to them by the voters to serve the country.

Those in power want to keep on increasing the cash doles for the poor, giving fancy names, and pat their own back that they had done wonders by implementing loan waiver schemes. Such schemes only offer temporary relief. It would be better if they study some success stories of initiatives of farmers and social activists in different states, learn some lessons and put pressure on the government of the day to replicate such experiments in other parts so that water bodies can be rejuvenated, and all major cities can be protected from dangerous level of air and water pollution as it happened in Delhi. Chennai, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Hyderabad have joined the list and in next 10 years will overtake the present levels of pollution in Delhi.

There is a village in Madhya Pradesh called Serwal which was known as dry area. Depleting groundwater levels had made the rearing of livestock impossible during summer. But today their ponds are full of water, they can rear their cattle, and prosperity is rippling across villages. They now have sustainable solutions, raise crops. For this, one does not require to study in Harvard or some other foreign university. It is not any rocket science.

What is required is to see how a common man with his native understanding of the situation could infuse life into arid land and disappearing water bodies. If the respective state governments along with ministries at Centre and people participating including charities can do wonders.

Today, we are seeing how the BJP and BRS are crying hoarse over the efforts of the government to rejuvenate Musi River. In Maharashtra, the public-private partnership has led to creating a situation where all lakes and ponds today are able to hold three times the capacity of Bhakra Nangal Dam. The government spent only 30 per cent of the total cost to hire necessary equipment and the rest of the money is covered by local farmers.

There are any number of charitable organisations and many corporates which take up good programmes as part of their corporate social responsibility. If the governments, whether at national or state level can channelise such funds, wonders can be done. It’s high time people like Rahul Gandhi stopped indulging in theatrics which do not help anyone, not even his party and take up serious developmental activities like these; then, his ‘Mohabat ki Dukan’ will flourish and vote bank will increase.