As I write this, India would have indigenously developed the cruise missile, Rahul Gandhi would have taken the seat as VP of the Congress, cricket players would have geared up for IPL quarter finals, BJP would have been deciding upon their strategies for ’14 elections, RBI would have increased the deposit rates….and away from all these, one more person would have been sexually harassed in some part of this country!! On one side, we are talking of globalised India; are planning to setup new corps for China border or are pacting deal with US to increase our external strengths, but on the other side every 26 minutes a woman is molested, every 34 minutes a rape takes place, and every 43 minutes a woman is kidnapped!
I proudly accept that we are strong enough to defend ourselves from any possible attack of neighboring countries, but the question arises here is that whether we are strong enough internally to protect interests of every individual of this country. The voice of women and children is being suppressed and are being harassed every day, Naxalites kill dozens of police personnel every other day, clashes occur every other time in some part of the country on the name of religion….this list is unending!!(let’s not discuss the later issues here).
Who is responsible here?? Most of us would brush aside our clothes by quickly announcing the law and order as culprit. Ok fine, lets have a look on the steps taken by the Government. In the recent wake of Damini’s case, Cabinet Ministers did a couple of meetings to frame the penalty ordinances; the Delhi Govt. started with a helpline number(181) for women, which even some complain of no response and usual busy lines. Again all the fault rests on the part of Govt. We again relentlessly point our fingers at the Govt. and move to India Gate or start spreading boorish messages for govt. I ask what have we done?? Whether mere walking down to India Gate with candles or updating facebook profiles with black dots serves our responsibility?? We need to understand that we are part of a developing nation and all that society needs can’t be taken up by the Govt. Mere electing our representatives doesn’t takes away our onus. Even the Delhi’s 181 hotline programme has failed to serve the purpose due to lack of commitment on our part. You would be surprised to know that people call the no. to enquire about timings of bus services or to complain of electricity outages...and then we complain of the busy lines!!
Anyhow, I am not here to speak in favor of govt. and I am definitely not against people’s anger (rather I see the rage and anguish to be a good starting sign for the long needed reforms to strengthen our society). All I just want to add here is that the change we need has to start from within. More laws, more police on streets or more CCTVs will do a little. We have ourselves to blame to a large extent and need to realise that its our unbounden duty to protect the interests of this society; & not mere of Govt’s. The moment we all would have realised our responsibilities, curbing these social diseases would be just a matter of small time. We need to remind ourselves of the great humanity that should exist in the people of this great Bharat. We have to see ourselves as the part of the society and contribute in whatever way possible, regardless of being concerned about the returns. The society will definitely repay us in the long run in a much big way!
Lets see how we bring about a change in ourselves from here on, or whether marching down the roads is just a momentary outburst of emotions. Now, if atleast this incident doesn’t bring change, nothing else would do!! Its time to Ring The Bell !!
(The views contained in the post are solely of the author and don’t pertain to the views of Government or any other group, on the concerned matter.)
