Do away with Democracy (as it is in India). replace it with A fool's idea

Democracy is imploding under its own weight! The system as it is in India is in total chaos. So is the standard of our parliamentarians. The divine altar of democracy – the parliament – has witnessed the worst of it, brawls among members, derogatory remarks against each other, etc. The srpouting of regional, narrow-minded (state interests over national) parties, and its by-product, the coalition government – has taken the already bursting-at-the-seams behemoth to a new burgeoning level. India’s most current problems, anarchy, corruption, non-accountability, criminals ruling, to name a few, has a direct link to the system of governance that we chose, about 65 years back.

Just a minute, don’t take out the sword to cut me into pieces. Let me reason. 65 years of this so called – of the people, by the people … - democratic rule, and where are we today? During this six decade, other countries have grown exponentially; technology has grown to phenomenal levels, but we are still where we were. Except for some powerful people, India’s mass population still reeling under utter poverty, reliance on methods that are long disappeared from rest of the world to find their daily bread, and our mindset, still stuck in the 18^th century… BC! With poverty, superstitions, human sacrifice, selling / killing of girl child, dowry system, casteism all these evils at its all-time high.

Too many cooks spoil the stew

Who is running the show? Party boss? Or Prime Minister? Or the Rubber-stamp President?  chief of defense staff? An overly active but morally declining (gradually) judiciary? It’s all about delegating, you see. Whenever there is something wrong, the opposition point fingers at the Ruling party, and ruling party retaliate by saying that the decision / policy was formulated by the opposition.

How many politicians sent to jail for misdeeds?

During the 65 years, how many politicians are send to jail for criminal charges, which are clear like daylight, but for some reason, not visible to the judiciary? Corruption, murder, dacoity, election manipulation, encroaching government land, rape, intimidation, abuse of power, the list is endless. Some brave whistle blowers bring some of these out in the open, but most of them are silenced, either by killing them, or bribing. Who thought A. Raja would come out so easily and will be celebrated like that?

31% of today’s MPs have criminal records! Including murder. Can you believe it? State party heads are embroiled in dubious cases against them, still it is in their power to decide who rules! People from UP have this logic-defying habit of electing murderers and dacoits to parliament continuously and over and again!

Election rigging

In Indian Democracy, vote is money, or the other way around! Does it make a difference? When a strong-hearted district collector took every step to prevent money distribution in Bellary (a northern district in Karnataka State), many of the voters came out in open, giving statements on media, that this is the time they can make some quick buck and the collector killed that opportunity, and I believe there were protests against the collector. Despite named in many scams, the candidate who offered most money (1500 per vote) won against the less fancied opponents (150 per vote). But the electorate took money from all the candidates!

Scaring the booth agents out, and right in front of the polling officer, votes were cast en masse. Liquor bottles served right in front of polling booths. Gun-trotting goons patrol obvious trouble areas to ensure the votes goes in their favor.

Me, my children, and theirs too!

In a brazen manner, every leader put his next-of-kin to take charge with / after him. Every plum post is reserved for leader’s relatives. And some shamelessly promote this while lambasting others for doing it.

Accountability

Due to red tape and other political reasons many development projects die a premature death. Crores of rupees spend, but who is responsible? Newly built infrastructures collapse, who to blame? Lakhs of crores rupees spend on numerous things, but who is the beneficiary? This government says it is the previous one, that party says we have nothing to do with it. Don’t they keep records of who started, at what stage the other party took over, etc? A CM orders his followers to start genocide, and later denies despite a senior police officer giving testimony against him. The result? The officer is imprisoned and might be killed in the jail! Land scams, Mining scams, political murders, scams, scams, more scams! Nobody dares to question!

Caste based reservations

Hold your breath, the biggest joke of Indian Democracy! Caste based reservation. Where on earth, do you think, such a discriminating policy will be allowed? Isn’t it against the law of equality? During the initial years, when the neglected tribes and castes find it very hard to survive, this was required, and makers of this law stipulated that it will eased out gradually. But dirty vote-bank politics and other vexed interests made sure that it is grown to mega-proportions and come to such a threatening situation where even promotions will be on reservation! Ha!

I am not against a reservation for economically weaker sections, for education, giving access to best institutions etc. Once they are proved themselves, why a job / promotion reservation is required? Does that mean, even if you proved you are no good, you will be heading important departments because you belongs to a certain caste? What is the motivation to do good? Where is the example set? Wonder why our research organizations / public sector manufacturers / other departments always produce sub-standard products?

Have fun at the expense of Public!

Our hard-earned money is spent on giving all these incompetent and ignorant lot a luxury treatment a la foreign tours, luxury villas, imported cars etc.  Every few weeks, petrol and essential good’s price increased. Would you ever consider cutting down the expense of yours, dear leaders? Great way to rule us. You have it in your power to beat up, even if it is a police officer doing his duty! You have it in your endless power to cheat us, and still come out on next election promising more!

Freebies! It’s raining freebies.

Some southern states indulge in this dangerous game. Offering freebies. If one government given free TV, the next one goes one step ahead and offer laptops. I believe in near future, they would be getting Hgh-end smart phones, digital cameras, luxury cars etc. India is prospering. What kind of a message these idiots are sending? That even if you don’t work, you get good things? Just like cast base reservations, this will also become a huge monster and will result in the collapse of the system.

Oh, so we are doomed? No way out? I don’t know. I am not a thinker. I am not a genius. After discussing with many like-minded people, I have drawn up a list of reforms, which is purely my way of seeing things. Opinions welcome.

Election process – revamp it.

Start from the root. There should be schools specially for training those who are interested in joining politics. Then make them attend exams. The first 10 or 15, should get a chance to draw up a comprehensive development program for their village. Let this be judged by a eminent group of people from all walk of life and rate it.

Their journey starts there. Allow the first 4-5 to start a debate among them, in public. And let the public vote for who is best in that. Until someone get a heavy majority (70%?) this should continue. Let the winner head a Panchayat, with runners up forming his cabinet. Implement what he has envisioned in his manifesto. If he fails to deliver, redo it, and find good, born leaders.

From these leaders, the next level should be identified. Ask every Panchayat head to draw up a plan for their district, and do the same. Every stage, the debate should be aired live, and at a convenient time so that maximum of the electorate can watch it. Just like before an important cricket match!.

From district level to states and state level to national!

Make them declare their assets, their immediate families and other close people. Every year declare anew. Any unproportional accumulation must be thoroughly investigated, and if any anomalies found, banish him / her from politics lifelong.

Retirement age for politicians

Set the retirement age. 60 / 65 maximum should be age to retire.

Two party system

Too many cooks spoil the stew. Let there be two parties. Those who can’t garner more than 30% of the vote banish them / merge with a party of their choice.

Scam trials should be fast tracked

Within 6 months of the trial give verdict and cease the entire property of that person, disqualify from contesting / holding any position in the country, and if convicted put him behind bars for rest of his life.

Monitoring authority

Appoint disciplined and clean record Military / Judiciary heads as advisors to government. This should be a term appointment by the concurrence of both parties.

This is my two cents. Democracy is dead! Long live democracy!

Demo - Crazy (Sponsored by all)

So another huge scam came out in the open, stealing all the airtime and reams of newsprint.

As usual, a news anchor is shouting and regularly interrupting the guests from explaining their side of the story, and force-feeding them his opinions.

As usual the opposition is up in arms, shouting and sloganeering, interrupting the precious time of our lawmakers, and making sure the loss to the nation is compounded.

A baba, who have miserably failed to fast for 3 days in the first attempt despite his self-proclaimed abilities via an ancient form of mediation , somehow managed to fast for the same duration, and putting up a great show for the waiting cameras by leaping out from the window of a bus, declaring his ‘love’ for the incumbent government. Yeah sure, he is apolitical.

A Gandhian, who was hailed as the knight in shining armor to save this corrupt nation, withdrew to his shell, in revenge to the nation who clearly has had enough of his theatrics and disillusioned at the lack of action. The vultures in the ruling party, who learned their lesson from the first incident, in which they erred in tactic by attacking the Gandhian Team, played by the tried and tested method, delaying tactics and silence, and proved a handful the the Gandhian team by registering hundreds of cases against them, thus casting a pall of gloom over their otherwise hallowed heads. The team is in tatters now, the core members themselves issuing conflicting statements in major issues like the disbandment of the team.

Somewhere, ethnic clashes (read communal violence, this is the new sophisticated and much more polished term for that old, rusted cliché) erupts and people from a certain region of India, believing some mischievous SMS / Internet messages, flee from their workplaces, ironically from the calmest place in the chaotic India.

Somewhere, the Government employees of a certain sector started a pan-India strike that crippled an already struggling economy. The reason: They don’t like the reforms that are put forth by the authorities. It curtails their freedom, like they will become answerable for their misdeeds.

Somewhere, seeing all this, a certain king from South of India heaved a sigh of relief. The focus have shifted from his corruption amounting to a meager 1,75,00,000 CRORE.

Somewhere, a certain Italian lady has heaved a sigh of relief. The attention from the foreign bank account has been shifted, which was threatening to tarnish her husband’s puritanical image if they ever made a legislation to bring back all the money stashed in those banks. Anyway as long as her puppet is at the helm, she doesn’t need to worry, but still…

Somewhere, amidst all the shout and walk-outs, the opposition leaders heaved a sigh of relief. The focus is shifted from - their inactivity, mismanagement of issues, a certain leader who is still playing a big role in deciding how the party is run despite a slew of judgment against him on corruption charges, the damning evidences that is coming out against their future PM candidate on genocide, the mining barons etc. etc. They still like to believe that India CAN shine under them only.

Somewhere, a wealthiest man watching all these drama unfolding on TV from the coziness of his plush living room sofa in the most expensive house of India, wore a smug smile, knowing that whether this party or that party, he will always get a preferential treatment, be it spectrum, Coal mine, or oil fields.

Somewhere, an office worker, hurrying through his breakfast and watching the same scenes as the above-mentioned wealthy man, wondered that how someone can steal that kind of money without anybody noticing. He felt dizzy at the thought of money involved. He wondered that if these loots were ever to return to the country, how would it be like? May be they can reduce the taxes that are killing the middle class?. May be they can reduce the petrol prices? May be they can build better roads and more options for transportation, and thus provide some relief to the struggling common man who is always the one to bear the brunt of these scams.

Somewhere, in a remote village, a poor man looked up at the sky, praying to god to provide some relief from the scorching sun and willed the rain to come. If it didn’t rain for another week, his crop will be ruined. He can’t pay back the loan he has taken to cultivate his small piece of land. He doesn’t have electricity to run a motor pump, no irrigation provided by govt.

Somewhere, a wife was set ablaze with her newborn girl child by a crazy man. He wanted a son.

Somewhere, a girl was being raped and killed. The rapist, being an influential man, knows that nobody would punish him.

Somewhere, a contestant in an election, brazenly distributed money & liquor infront of the booth, witnessed by the polling officer.

Somewhere, a child was being sacrificed by his own father, instigated by a Godman, to retrieve a long-lost treasure.

Somewhere, a self-anointed god man, just out of jail for raping / sexually abusing many of his disciples, was getting a royal reception, with HAVANA’s performed to PURIFY him off the evils from the jail. Well-known politicians and religious heads showering their blessing on him.

Somewhere, a newly built bridge collapsed and killed a few.

Somewhere, a few thousand soldiers laid their life to prevent terrorist from a rogue nation entering our space. The nation cheered our win against that nation, in Cricket World Cup.

Mera Bharat Mahan!!