Will India wake up?

Everywhere you turn, there is one scam or the other staring you in the face. In India, we are used to it. We have always made a big noise when this surfaces, and most often completely forget about the whole thing in a few months time.

But, with this menace increasing day by day, and when we find politicians and top bureaucrats looting public money, can the average citizen keep quiet any longer?

In organizations, we often look for fresh blood especially in senior positions, who will bring in new thinking and different perspectives to the functioning of the organization. Similarly, can we adopt the same strategy for politics as well? A democracy is of the people, by the people and for the people. Is it not our responsibility to stand up and say that we will not tolerate such looting and corruption any more? Do we still believe that India will be a global power in 2020? Maybe when it comes to corruption, we will top the list.

I recollect this poem by Sri Rabindranath Tagore which all of us have read in our school days. This poem, a prayer rather, captures the fundamental principles that any nation must adopt.

Where the mind is without fear
And the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up
Into fragments by narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake

Will India wake up?

Cheers