When we open our newspaper and read that our elected representatives are battling unknown demons to grant us the ‘Right-to-’ education, food etc, it suddenly strikes us that once upon a time we already had all that. We could once drink tap water safely – today each household requires a water purifier. Why? What are we paying taxes for if we can’t be given essentials? Right to information is a poor substitute for Right-to-clean-drinking-water. Why is it that we operate own power plants at home in form of inverter and generator? Why do we have to get stuck with our own satellite dish or cable when a simple Yagi antenna can do the trick as it did over two decades back? Be it security guards or primary education, the list is only increasing. We are living in middle of civilized world and not in a remote outpost.
The answer may lie partly with us. Seemingly the Government policies are deeply influenced by commercial interests of lobbies. Otherwise why has satellite television replaced terrestrial broadcast in India where there was enough dark fibre to economically connect every TV tower required to cover 99% of population. For the remaining 1%, satellite television was required. How come our ‘unbiased’ media did not question something which was right in it’s yard? Since media is a ‘business’ charged with a ‘social responsibility’, no guesses on what takes precedence.
Now that we have the required critical mass of educated and well informed people across the length and breadth of the country, it is time we put the prospective people’s representatives through the paces before casting our vote. The right to represent people has to be earned, not bought by inducements and unkept promises. Ultimately elected representatives represent our collective character and will – and we should have no reason to complain if we did not exercise due diligence when we could.
