India swimming-in a cesspool of it's own making.

The recent Assam unrest  preceding  our  65th  Independence  day , laid bare to world's eye , our threadbare secular setup. Blaming a truant Pakistan for escalating unrest and discord via morphed images and persecutory videos of  muslims , in no way  absolves us of our misdemeanour; which is of never having united in spirit , an absolute prerequisite for a country which is multi-ethnic , multi-religious and multi-lingual . The last occasion when India rose collectively was during it's struggle for freedom from British dominion . All religious , linguistic ,socio ,economic barriers were forgotten for greater national interest. Today however our ' unity in diversity ' slogan has boomeranged on us. 

Post independence India made rapid progress to position itself as a global super-power ; but in doing so it entirely overlooked the need to plug it's fissures  and put it's house in order first .  So it i s not  just our secular , but also our democratic set-up which needs to be set on course , riddled as it is today  by corruption and scams . Today things have come to such a head that surviving it's 5 year term has become  a challenge for the ruling party, and hence any and every gimmick is resorted to in order to secure it's vote bank. The seeds of the' divide and rule' policy of the British ,  continue to sprout with more prolificacy than ever . Ironical, is'nt it that now we not only choose our oppressor out of free will, but also suffer him/her not just for one term but at times a second term too for lack of a better alternative . At times one is almost tempted to 'inky , pinky ,  ponky...' and fervently hope that one gets lucky this time around .

Utterly disgruntled and dissatisfied with the existing political scenario , the common man is enveloped in such a cloud of hopelesness and inertia that he wants to do nothing except put his own house in order . The ' I , Me ,Myself ' philosophy has made him zero tolerant   to people inhabiting his state and are not his language brother . Discrimination has become the norm as people following a certain religion or sharing similar ethnicity , are now demanding separate states for themselves ousting all others .

In such a scenario , what do we do  to strengthen our secular and democratic set-up ? Realising the need to change is a big step in the right direction ; but  how do we go about awakening a country of more than 1.2 billion people. For starters , the power and reach of the internet and other electronic media is well known to us. However what needs introspection is ways to channel these resources for purposes of unification for we have seen that unbridled  freedom  invariably turns out to be counter productive . The need of the hour is also  to have a legitimised jury of knowledgable people voted in by us for the purpose of education , ( on each agenda which needs to be addressed)  guidance and application of unanimous will .

Another issue needing immediate redressal is the need to sensitize each Indian towards his duty to vote . The onus of  runing a nation does not rest only with the chosen ones but also with the populace . This is truly the least we can do which will yield the most .

While on the subject of 'the chosen ones' , the Indian nation is in dire need  of reforms on this front . No political party should be allowed to field a candidate who does not possess good credentials and an impeccable service record . There should also be a ceiling on the expenditure incurred by political parties during the course of an election and this needs to be moniterd  by a body independent off the government . This measure should to some extent put an end to the nexus between politicians and industrialists so that the former is not obliged to return favours if they do come to power .

Reverting to the common man , all of us need to go beyond our narrow , constrictional thoughts . Rather than voting for one who belongs to our caste , creed  region or religion we need to vote in calibre and ability , be it a school , village , municipal or general elections .

However the above mentioned ideas are of scant use if the present and coming generation does not value the freedom it enjoys today . To bring home its import it is essential that each school in India work to this end by showing a synopsis of India's Independence struggle, unfailingly , each day , during it's morning assembly .

One cherishes , preserves and protects only that which one values and nothing is worth valuing more than our 'Freedom .' If the bird in the cage could speak ,it would certainly tell us so . So why don't we turn our 26 January and 15 August from mere public holidays to celebrations larger than Diwali.Who do you think is stopping us ?