It is the weekend. I think back as to what was the highlight of the week, and no surprises - 'D day' is what comes to my mind. The day when Delhi was shaken by both man and nature. Yet what continues to surprise me is the sort of stupor in which our great leaders continue to remain in.
Apart from a few and rather drowned out calls about national security, nothing was new. Investigations and 'pre-emptive security tightening' measures are taken up after the deed has been done by cowards who don't believe in a democratic way to air their grievances.
The USA today spends more than a few billions of dollars under the name of Homeland Security. And while I am not stating that it is the best thing to do, there has resulted some sense of security for their citizens. Yet, our India government only talks about how secure our borders and citizens are! Really? Are we? Not attempting to be paranoid here. But when unsecured, unmanned large ships can be cast away and land on the beach of India's financial nerve centre, the reason given is gaps in our radar system. Why do we have these gaps? We can afford to send space missions, afford to be one of the biggest buyers of defence systems, yet we have gaps? Something doesn't quite ring right here, don't you think so?
In my previous post, I asked a few questions directly to the elected representatives of this amazing country. A month down the line (yes, I have not been particularly prolific in posting), there is hardly a discernible sense of anything being put into action that could potential improve the safety and security of Indian citizens.
Today is that day when the USA woke up to a vulnerability. It is a large country. It can protect itself from external aggression. But from the inside, there was nothing that could stop the planes from hurtling into the New York World Trade Centres. And the result, in a decade of war on terror, much has been done.
When India can claim to be racing to the world top spot on economic grounds, yet factually remains way below in terms of what it does for its citizens - be it protection from terror or hunger, the question is for how long and how many more deaths would it take for us to change?
I will be among the first to state, that there is a lot of good things that have happened since 60 years of independence, but there is a much longer way to go to make India into what was dreamt by the founding mothers and fathers of this nation.
As a democracy, I do have the right of speech. I am exercising it now. In the hope that somebody on top of the pecking order on the Indian political food chain, is listening and just maybe interested enough to do something about it on the scale required.
Friday 9 September 2011
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