Looks like it is election season again. When governments are in transition and are robust in poll activities. The high decibel noises and loud promises by the contesters are heard in every nook and corner of cities, towns and villages.
The pied pipers lead the masses to the same pool of corruption and underperformance every time. Only the piper and his musical instrument changes every five years. Politicians play different notes and tunes to pull along the masses in rhythm. By now almost 90 percent of the political parties must have drafted their political manifestos.
The contents of these manifestos are the harbingers of prosperity and growth. You and me are included as part of these drafts. Either for employment, as a beneficiary or as the fortunate consumer of public goods.
We hear of promises, agendas and manifestos, wherein each candidate claims to be the most prospective capable leader of the masses. He or she is hell-bent on being productive, a thorough visionary and sound optimistic on the podium addressing the gathered masses.
Each one comes up with a cause to die for or live for. The propaganda and colourful banners looks spectacular. The claps and uproar of gathered common lot energises and infuses more oxygen into the contesting candidates.
Did I say oxygen? Well this component has completely replaced the use of age old ‘air’ in common parlance. For today we realise and are aware that the air we breathe has lost it’s sanctity to be called a ‘life saver’. It is the oxygen that really matters everything else is gas.
So true when the candidates will be watched for performance delivery after winning a constituency, the needed oxygen and useless gas will be released . Mere loudspeaker radiated election campaigning and alluring will not suffice.
Anyways Let’s not talk about what has yet to follow. Political candidates will do everything to get back to power. For the election season they are ‘Prisoners of votes ‘.
But coming back to oxygen, I strongly feel oxygen ,soil, water bodies ,forests ,Flora and fauna do legitimately belong to the same constituencies along with the human settlements. Sad , these biotic and abiotic lifeforms have no voices and no representations.
Their only saviours are wildlife protection acts, campaigns, afforestation programs, conventions , environmentalist and NGOs. Yes, their role, importance and degradation has been grasped over the globe by all right thinking people. But are they on any party’s political radar? Has any candidate promised protection of a freshwater lake or wetlands recently or talked about increasing or recovering a water body or a habitat. No, not a single one. And nowhere in India.
Maybe because these resources of nature do not have their own ‘ aam jungle party’ or ‘Congress of trees’, nor a ‘conference of animals’. I always wonder if there was a national conference of stags. The conference of hanguls would have been a furious party. The Kashmir stag locally called as hangul is an endangered specie with just 200 or so left in the state. The lakes are shrinking in length and depth. Recently there were reports that the river Pampa at the foothills of Sabarimala in Kerala has ankle deep water left.
The devotees find it extremely difficult to take the revered holy dip. No water means no spiritual purification for the devotees. Destroying habitat eventually leads to the destruction of the human race in small measures everyday. Has anyone considered taking up protecting wild life as his or her political commitment? Perhaps that can be taken up as part of governance and administration later on. Or when the floods hit, disasters play havoc ,the needful will be done.
Interestingly the National Green Tribunal recently directed the UP Government to purify the river Hindon else pay the performance guarantee of Rs.5 crores. This post mortem approach of the government makes less sense.
The needful has to be done in peace time. We have seen the centre stays passive in peace times in disturbed areas. The talks ,dialogues and debates cannot be taken up in moments of despair, at the loss of lives when the emotions run high on the national front. A well thought of and a planned strategy is required for good governance.
Returning to the micro climate of the regions , the local conditions and everyday phenomena affect us the most. Be it the depletion of water bodies, soil erosion , loss of soil fertility and vegetation cover or the barren slopes, the encroached river bank., each one has a direct impact on the living communities.
The political parties work only to woo their political vote banks. I strongly feel it is the responsibility of the inhabitants to come up with their demands. The political agendas must not be one sided and forced upon the people by their political heroes.
The common minimum program or political manifesto must come from below from the masses. And anybody who has the will, skill and capability to undertake people’s cause must be voted. It is an irony that more than half of the parties in India are named after the most desired word ‘people’ but no one approaches the common people for the charter of social demands.
Well I almost lost track again and forgot about the silent flora and fauna in the complexity of the present political discussion. This voice of the nature’s organic support system goes almost unheard. When the administration and political parties begin to function after elections, the drive for modernisation kills them.
The need to set up industries, industrial clusters and special economic zones to generate employment runs high. We are well acquainted with the performance scenario in India. Even if they succeed in achieving their goals, it is merely to make it visible to the public eye. As it is easy to appease the voters again.
If a forest is saved from the encroachers, the mute animal kingdom is unable to thank them or vote them back to power. Whereas the people have been given the Democratic power to elect their representatives. The political life of the politicians is renewed by the people periodically. So wild life and natural habitat stands no chance and inevitably has been a mute spectator of the human world.
This message is for all those passive people to persuade them to ask right questions , to demand public performance, to frame a local plan, to design their own natural landscape. To raise issues of protection of natural resources and put forward for a comprehensive plan for development. After all the elections are held to elect the representatives for the thriving civilisation and not just to give power to men and women to rule for their self-interests.
Now we can debate on this that people can demand for performance or come up with specific charter after the elections. We have seen this. The record of public works done by the elected without any inhibitions or corruption is minimal in India. The time has come to have a fool proof well laid out plan for the region before the elections. The mere one liner luring perks can be replaced with a more inclusive demand for performance.
The time to press for a well designed demand for rights is required. The recent study of the vulnerability index of the Himalayan states shows the seismic zones pose a direct and dangerous threat on the socio economic life of these states.
The manifestos must address these concerns adequately. The wetlands and mangroves found all along the coasts of India are diminishing. These prove to be the natural shock absorbers when the coasts are hit by tides, cyclones or a tsunami. Including these areas in the manifestos will certainly raise the bar of mediocre political vote mongering. The petty promises do not sound alluring anymore.
The political warriors must realise that the masses today are intelligent and demanding. A sense of global consciousness prevails in the modern educated and right thinking citizens today. The war of elections cannot be won by amusing talks, traps and tricks this time. For they are addressing a well informed and well read voting population. The world is watching the election process and activities of the biggest democratic country of contemporary times.