Economic Development is the need of the hour to take care of the 1.4 billion population and is not by itself a mean task. The growth rate for the past seven and half decades cannot be considered to be adequate enough either to meet the needs of the population or justify to the capacity of the country in relation to its resources of all kinds or its own performance as a nation much before independence as per the data widely circulated and discussed every now and then. Not only the generation of wealth but its inequitable distribution has caused wide disparities allowing knowingly or unknowingly emergence of all sorts of corrupt practices and erosion of values in the society resulting in the exploitation of resources of all kinds and percolation of practices unworthy of our own values and culture. Unfortunately wrong practices and wrong doings got multiplied in the absence of effective Governance and allowed prevalence of sets of wrong standards in the guise of welfare activities for the brand Common Man taking away his thinking capacity and volunteer actions benefiting the society at large. Major ills of the economy are Corruption all around, mis governance and non accountability, absence of integrity of data, erroneous policies resulting in lopsided development and ever widening disparities in income and wealth distribution, erosion of values and carefree attitude among the people perhaps due to weak judiciary pursued without having any care for build up of healthy justice system, and generation of good thoughts, deeds and resultant consequences benefiting the society. These are ills definitely avoidable in the betterment of the society, but systematically and intentionally ignored without appropriate educational policy and understanding of the real losses the nation and the people suffer perennially in terms of happiness, emotions, welfare, peace and poverty in the midst of plenty and missing opportunities and not knowing the values of missed opportunities and costs thereof the nation puts up with for nothing. Democracy is good but democratic principles need to be statutorily defined and meticulously practised keeping the morale of the people in tact and ensuring all round happiness and welfare in letter and spirit. Let NOBLE THOUGHTS and ACTIONS Come from ALL ASSOCIATED WITH NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT.
The nation’s total resources and the yields from the resources need to be matched once a while just to ensure that the wealth creation, distribution of wealth among the people and poverty elimination do stand justice and the welfare of people and happiness among the people do seem to be real, fair and equitable proportionate to the efforts and resources spent without giving scope for undue criticism of the democratic ways of administering the eco- socio and political system . The gross natural resources and their utilisation to benefit the nation also needs to be closely monitored to ensure against wastage of resources and their exploitation.
The Human Resources are really talented and highly potential but they lack opportunities and exposure to give their best is the ground reality. Education has a key role and the right to get the proper education and skill to get employed adequately with job safety and dependable source of social security needs to sustain themselves on a long term basis should get top priority from the Politics, Economic and Social angle. Playing bad / cheap politics exploiting the economic and social weaknesses of the majority cannot be a fit and desirable formula in the scheme of things in the management of the economy. Human Resources are unfortunately the worst exploited without allowing the majority to enjoy benefits of economic growth affecting all round progress and welfare.While political stability can ensure economic growth to a great extent by enhanced trust in Governance, savings, better investments and production through sustainable tax, interest incentives, employment opportunities, social justice and technological advancement are equally desirable to ensure fair and equitable distribution of wealth produced . The role of ethics cannot certainly be undermined or rather ignored to sustain the growth and its fair distribution to reach 140 crores of people.Good politics with sound ethics can certainly bring in strong and long sustainable economy benefiting the Government and all stake holders of the Economy.
Politically, the democratic system continues successfully despite the emergence of several regional parties and presence of multi languages and multi religions and caste based influence of voters .Trading of votes through offers of freebies and cheap incentives, exploitation of poverty and the subsistence needs continually present since independence has become an irritant and nuisance to the otherwise healthy democracy spoiling the development of the value system and other essential principles of democracy.This only reflects the failure of the administration pursued for decades to enlighten the people and making them to think and support parties and leaders based on their patriotic feelings and fruitful contribution to upgrade the standards of living and parameters of economic and social developments to benefit all. No yardsticks seem to have been developed and put in place over a period to assess on a realistic basis the contributions to the national developments by various parties, their leaders and support systems in terms of developments of Institutions and parameters to point out the social and economic achievements. Is it not time after 75 years of Independence to assess the guidelines in place enabling the country to move forward on strong fast track based on democratic principles and justice systems, the economic, social, and technological advancements, benefiting majority of the people to have a peaceful, prosperous and fulfilling life in line with the philosophy of Vasudeva kudumbakam. The aspirations of the people are definitely not to have wealth or power beyond their capacity to manage, enjoy and survive comfortably. All said, the political Stability Visible for the past few years has brought in some sense of credibility that the nation is capable of surpassing many advanced nations in all round development and can perform better through Reforms in all areas .
Socially observing, the Legislation, Execution and Judiciary systems are all well in place but an in-depth analysis of their working would prove that in practice the systems and procedures laid down are designed in such a way that corruption is inbuilt and corrupt practices are encouraged. Any service industry for that matter is engraved with corrupt practices and time management is literally unknown so to say. The effective and meaningful Governance talked about and well desired seems to be elusive and very cleverly camouflaged perhaps in effect.
Technologically analysing, the Country has earned name and fame worldwide and enriched itself considerably and commendably, but has it brought optimum benefits to all its unexplored full potential is a million dollar question and many millions remain to be earned . No doubt, the digital payment evolution is an enviable revolution and a revelation of its enormous potential to take the economy fast forward beyond any imagination, a lot remains to be done and achieved and herein lies the much needed initiative, thinking and actions to fix all the ills that kill the economy and its growth. Technology can provide goldmines of information and data which if put into use optimally, the very administrative and Governance practices can bring in a sea change in eradicating all kinds of malpractices seen in policy enunciations and their effective implementation. Technology is perhaps the only quick fix to take the country and its people forward politically socially and economically. It is a God Given Gift that the Country has all the Resources in terms of talented Human Resources in particular and what we need is a clear thinking, direction and action to change the destiny of the 140 crores people for ache din.
The enrichment of Politicians and bureaucrats among others since independence if assessed unbiasedly and the ever increasing inequality in the generation of wealth and its distribution over a period of more than seven decades if taken into account would indicate that something has seriously gone wrong some where /everywhere in the management of the whole economic system and the optimum utilisation of its resources and capabilities. We can and should do definitely better.
Unfortunately corruption and Corrupt practices seem to be getting legalised and institutionalised by the powers that be illegally taking advantage or rather exploiting the democratic principles, weaknesses seen in the Governance and judicial system and also the prevalence of massive crowd in need of some service or other from various essential and other service providers for a hefty fee which gets shared between service providers and authorities authorised to approve . One can see mushroom growth of service agents in and around cities and villages offering assistance to get AADHAR card, Passports, Driving Licences, and all sorts of legal documents right from nomination forms to power of attorney of various natures. These agents provide a very quick service which the citizens cannot think of without visiting half a dozen times the related authorities and spending money, energy and valuable time. Common man has no value of time is what is perhaps established by the way the powers that be in the country works.
The driving licence, a learners licence, Aadhar card, Passport , Khatha Certificate, birth and death certificates etc get arranged on payment of some money and there are offers to get any services within a specified time even without relevance on the payment terms. Arrangements are ok for those who do not care for values or money but time is precious above all, but it is a matter for doubt for more than 80% of the population who vote the Governments to power and perennially suffer from inflation, poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, emotions, attachments and care for whatever values and morals highly talked about as virtues worth adhering to at any cost enjoy any quality of life . Politicians promise, propose and offer heaven but bureaucrats dispose without any tangible benefits to the society but solid benefits to themselves and a section of people who are directly or indirectly engaged in some economic activity. Implementation of any policy conceived is practically designed to benefit the implementing authorities and herein lies the art of making black money and accumulating wealth circumventing the good intentions of samaritan politicians and blind hopes of innocent and gullible public. Both Politicians and bureaucrats keep the people on high hopes and make them wonder eternally as to what is happening and witnessing both politicians and bureaucrats enjoying wealth, power and keeping the promises as promises for ever as the need for the Survival of democracy is more in the interest of the leaders and the nation. The position of Common Man and how he enjoys the benefits of democracy in practical day to day Life seem to be a mystery without any clarity in sight. It is an art developed meticulously and pursued by the powers that be enjoying the support of people through votes and keeping them on hopes perennially and eternally .
Though, It is a pity or rather misfortune that the Country is nearing eight decades of independence and almost 80% of the people are still surviving without knowing what exactly is the quality of simple life, leave alone high standards and luxurious life, meaning of democracy and how a major segment of the population suffer and survive, allowing an insignificant number of the population who significantly include politicians, bureaucrats, industrialists, rich farmers and service providers to thrive at the cost of many a people , the values and principles they care dearly and adhere to. JANE DO attitude adopted by the Common man seem to be the key understanding widely in practice in EXECUTION of policies under the Democracy. The net result is, Gradual Erosion of Credibility and irreparable damage and the unbearable cost borne by the nation and the people for no fault of theirs. Something is amiss somewhere though not intended perhaps necessarily.
As a senior citizen and having been part of the system for more than 75 years, I still wonder what happens to the promises to the people and how the administration ensures that people continue to remain and suffer for survival at the cost of personal and family bonds sentiments , emotions, values, culture and civilisation.
The present inflation, the pandemic induced problems and the mischiefs played by media perhaps have demoralising impact on the masses and their silent suffering only speak of the insensitiveness of the way the politicians and bureaucrats handle the Common Man of the country . There is nothing called Fact Checks when news and messages spread through different media which include mushroom growth of social and mass media both print and visual.
Time has Come for the People from all walks of Life to introspect and rework to arrive at the rights and wrongs of democracy and approach to take the Country forward with all its richness of CULTURE, HERITAGE ,RESOURCES, and aspirations of all living beings to see happy days to lead a peaceful, healthy and simple life.
SINCE The POLITICAL,ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL (PEST TREATMENT) PURSUED FOR LONG SINCE INDEPENDENCE WITH ALL GOOD INTENTIONS HAS NOT YIELDED THE DESIRED RESULT IN TERMS OF ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL BENEFITS , IT IS BETTER TO INTROSPECT AND STEP UP MEASURES TO BRING IN SOLID SOCIAL AWAKENING AND CHANGES USING TECHNOLOGY OPTIMALLY AND ACHIEVING ECONOMIC GROWTH WITH NEW POLITICAL THINKING TO STRENGTHEN DEMOCRATIC VALUES BASED ON PEOPLES’ PARTICIPATION AND INVOLVEMENT WITH UNDERSTANDING of OUR CAPABILITIES AND DERIVING MAXIMUM BENEFITS TO all BY CHOOSING LEADERS AND PARTIES CARING MORE FOR THE WELFARE OF MAJORITY OF THE POPULATION AND CREATING A NICHE IMAGE FOR THE NATION IN THE INTERNATIONAL SCENARIO. Accountability and Achievements should match with the full potential of the nation and the result should reflect in the overall welfare of the people with peace and happiness all around. Chaos and Confusion should end ensuring stable and dependable Governance.It is time to combine Natural intelligence with Artificial Intelligence sensibly to derive the optimum advantage to enjoy the nature and all natural given resources for universal welfare .
Sarve Jana Sukhino Bhavanthu is the only thought behind this write up. May GOD GUIDE AND BLESS US WITH RIGHT THOUGHTS, WORDS AND DEEDS AND LET ALL THE LIVING BEINGS ENJOY GOD GIVEN LIFE SHARING THE RESOURCES AND BENEFITING FROM THEM.
T V G Krishnan.
