End of Regional Politics!
With the recent Vidhan Sabha polls for
Haryana and Maharashtra, politically speaking, while Congress has hit the nadir;
it has also drawn curtains on the regional parties and dented irreparably the
political career of the likes of MNS. It may be the beginning of the end of
petty politics era. Voters seem to be looking at a bigger picture now; perhaps,
with a strong leadership at the helm of affairs. A welcome sign for India, the
emerging economic and political power house globally!
Swachchh Bharat Abhiyaan
What binds us together that we layman
boast is the common thread of unity; despite having numerous dialects and
languages, cultures and traditions, history and geography, caste and colour, et
al. But, we never ever mentioned one unique binding quality of ours is – we least
bother about cleanliness and remain immune to it despite the repeated cases of
dengue, cholera, malaria killing us in all the nook and corners of our country.
Imagine yourself travelling by train and approaching a city – stinking filth spread
over acres, people defecating on the rail tracks, rag pickers busy picking the
recyclable garbage are a common site and one can’t differentiate one city with the
other – this is unique to us.
I wonder why 2nd October is
observed as a National Holiday. I know that it happens to be the birthday of
Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation – but so far all these years, the smiling
portraits of Mahatma Gandhi remained locked inside the offices and no one of us
bothered to even clean him. It is commendable that the new Government at the
Centre took the initiative of Swachchh Bharat Abhiyaan as a tribute to the
Mahatma who worked tirelessly for the freedom of the nation and cleanliness
around us. For the first time Mahatma Gandhi got his due, his photos were
dusted, children were made aware of his teachings, government officials sweated
with brooms in their hands.
Not much will change, unless we ourselves understand
our duty to keep our surrounding clean and pressurize those offices whose duty
it is to dispose off the waste to a designated place for further processing and
treatment.
The Industrialists and the Government too
need to take note of it. Mere symbolic brooming is not going to work. They need
to become more sensitive to environment and in turn sensitize their people to
adopt clean disposal methods and avoid polluting the water, land and air with
industrial wastes. Government and the Industrialists must fix a time frame
within which the environmental friendly waste disposal methods are put into
operation.
And, do we not need to be sensitive during
festivities? I saw clouds of thick smoke all around when I took a drive at
night at around 11.00pm and the roads, colonies were littered with paper remains
of the crackers!
To adopt and adapt Swachchh Bharat
Abhiyaan we need to really work hard!
I see a humble man in ‘56” ka Seena’ !
While Narendra Modi boasted of his 56” chest,
it sounded a bit arrogant to many. Seen as a strongman by his colleagues, opposition and even the media;
he has emerged with a stronger image internationally too upon his recent visits
to Japan and USA.
Whatever he meant by his 56" Chest remark, I see Narendra Modi
as a humble man! Three news coverages have not gone unnoticed. Before leaving
for Delhi he bowed to his mother, before his maiden entry to Lok Sabha – he bowed
and prayed at the steps of the temple of democracy and on his birthday he
visited his mother and took her blessings. She also gave him some money and he
accepted it humbly. A strongman in power bowing to a frail aged woman in her
nineties, seeking her blessings – is a picture in contrast! I hope this must
have been noticed by all the youngsters, and it is infact a message to all of
them. We owe our life and success in life, to our parents. Thus, we need to
respect them, always. Our tradition and culture has always taught us – ‘Vande
Mataram’. Modi is simply practicing it, demonstrating it. Any contradictions!
Indo-Pak Cross Border Firings
So far I have not been able to make head
or tail out of the cross border firings. Why it happens in peace! Is it just to
kill the boredom at the border? Or, as is reported, it is the tactics applied
by Pak for infiltrating the terrorists into India? Or, it is just to keep alive
the issue in the name of Kashmiris? Whatever. For years India has been reacting
with lot of restrictions by retaliatory firings. It is learnt that now BSF and
Military has been given ‘free-hand’ to react. But, is the situation going to improve?
I doubt.
The floods in J&K
The floods devastated the entire valley. Going
by the media coverage, government did make sincere efforts in rescuing the
lives of those who got stuck in the valley. But, it is not over yet. It is an
opportune time for the government to make right moves, take sincere efforts and
provide the local populace all the assistance that is required to bring back
life in them and accelerate the implementation of economic packages for the
State. Sincere helping hand from the government at this moment would help in
instilling the confidence among the people and would help them in filling the
void that they have so far experienced due to one reason or the other.
