Citizen's ask

What do I expect from the MP?

1. First and foremost, ensure that the police force is happy, healthy and gets the salary on time. Once the basic needs of the police force are taken care of the security and law enforcement will automatically improve.

2. Put in place a good infrastructure with a vision. That is, when a newly built road is scraped and dug, we feel cheated. This should not happen when we are spending crores of tax payers hard earned money to build good roads. The MP should ensure accountabilty of the allotted budget.

3. Accountability for the Toll collection on the highways. If you are charging people for certain facilities, the least you can do ensure these facilities are atleast there! There are 2-wheelers in the middle of the highway, bullock carts, tractors driving on the wrong side of the road, farmers spreading out the cut crops on the roads for vehicles to crush them etc. And then we wonder why do accidents take place on the highways.

4. Ensure all schools that fall under his control, have proper washrooms! No two ways about it. This is a major factor for girl students dropping out of schools. Before we pass bills like Right to Education bill, we need to address the issues leading to poor attendance.

5. Lead the people towards sustainable development. Take necessary steps to help people understand the need to maintain a healthy balance between nature and human development, protect and respect the bio-diversity around them.

These are just a few issues which I feel should be one of the priority tasks. Also, one need not be armed with degrees and medals from prestigious colleges. S/he just needs a sensible outlook, a conviction to work with integrity, and faith that sincere efforts do pay off well. 

The state of a nation

"..what advances a nation or a community is not so much to prop up its weakest and most helpless members, but to liftup the best and the most gifted, so as to make them of the greatest service to the country." - Jamsetiji Tata. Going by this, it is no wonder that India as a country fails to come out of the swamp of mediocrity. We seem to uphold "please the underprivileged" mentality rather than "foster the strength of the strong" or "encourage the less privileged to do better". As long as we are led by our wrongly placed morals, India can stop dreaming of becoming a superpower..or whatever!

The citizens are restless; the good brain is leaving the country owing to unfair performance measurement systems and inexplicable judging parameters which invariably go in favour of the "underprivileged" instead of the deserving ones. The energy of the productive population is drained out in fighting for a right and fighting against injustice. Mind you, this is a vulnerable patch. Directionless energy of any youth will eventually, but certainly, become a nuisance to the community. We need a guide, an icon who commands respect and not just attracts the media's spotlight. Her/His ideas need to percolate to the execution level and not get diluted on the way. This may perhaps happen when the s/he is within reach for the masses. The restlessness of a population is a highly potent change agent. If handled well, it will work wonders. Anything done otherwise, will invite an uprising.

I am no intellectual, but to figure out a logical outcome of a demographic situation, it does not require one. It is the doers who lack the conviction. Great ideas and honest intentions will keep cropping up; it will make sense only if we try doing it. Something may work on paper but it doesn't always materialise as conceived. This is true the other way around too...