Vijay Simha's Tehelka Column - What Indians politically do wrong

While not sure about every aspect, still felt this is something we should rethink about. The thing is, we do know all this but what actually prevents us from doing what is right?

	PAMPER DYNASTIES  Blinded by powerful families, we vote for them continually though our conscience must say no.
	DON’T REWARD FIGHTERS  The CPI(ML) has been seeking a clean Bihar for years. They don’t get more than a handful of seats.
	IGNORE WORTHY NOMINEES  Manmohan Singh lost by 29,999 votes in the 1999 South Delhi Lok Sabha election. Hasn’t contested since.
	DON’T CHANGE VOTING HABITS  Grandfathers voted for Indira. We vote for Sonia and Rahul. The world has changed in between.
	GIVE UNDUE CREDIT  The Congress didn’t do CNG in Delhi. The Supreme Court did.
	DON’T STAND AS ONE  Thirty-seven parties in the Lok Sabha and 29 in the Rajya Sabha. Can get crazy, like in Jharkhand.
	ARE LETHARGIC  Can’t step out, for causes or for voting. So, we minimise who we are.
	DON’T THINK  The BJP in Gujarat after 2002. The Left for 33 years in West Bengal. Chamling since 1994 in Sikkim.
	CHOOSE PERSONALITIES, NOT POLICIES  Amitabh. Dharmendra. Azharuddin. Jayaprada. Not liberalisation, Article 370, RTI, women’s reservation.
	ACCEPT BRIBES Liquor. Money. Land. Jobs. And sundry other favours. We are fine with it. They are fine with it.

Looking back to the past....

Observing the existing life style and the social setup I question myself “are we progressing with regards to civilization?” My answer would be, No!
While thinking about the amazing structures like pyramid, great wall of china etc., and the scientific and astronomical calculations our ancestors left for us, I would say we are in no way more advanced than them. Being an Indian, I have heard people say that all the technology and the inventions we have now, have already been mentioned in Indian Vedic scriptures as a possibility in future. Due to the fear that selfish people would misuse them, they were not revealed long back.
Man started living on this planet millions of years ago, but only in past two centuries there seems to be a lot of progress in the aspect of technology and speed, after discovery of oil. Can anyone imagine a world with out oil when you wake up tomorrow?
Your bike, car, automobile would be of no use. All the years, what ever you have saved to travel the world is of no use, because all the flights will be grounded. You could imagine this situation by recollecting the three days when the flights were grounded in the US after the 9/11 attacks. Flying will become a history for everyone until another means of energy is invented.
Traveling and transportation will be cumbersome by then. Goods from one place to other place will take a longer time to reach. US entirely depends on other countries for imports.
Once the mobilization of goods is difficult, people should start thinking about producing the materials locally. All the weapons manufactured will stay with in US. All the computers manufactured with stay within china. etc.. America and Britain came into empowerment with industrial revolution. This was possible only because of fossil fuel, oil and its usage in the machineries. Without oil …..you can imagine what will become of all this!!
This is what America is afraid of. These powerful nations will need food till its death, which is oil, which they are mainly dependent on.
Research is going on to harness energy from renewable resources, but people are not ready for it. These so-called powerful nations are diverting the common man in their country in the name of terrorism. Germans had Nazism, Italians had fascism, and now Americans have terrorism. Terrorism is a tool to conquer the OPEC ( oil producing and exporting countries). Although these countries produce oil, they are valued only in dollars and even their currencies are reference currencies which a factor of US dollars. This will continue while they divert all the oil to its countries towards the depletion of its resources. Oil for other countries apart from US and Britain will be a question.
It is a blind act to create a terror among the common people rather than creating awareness about the depletion of fossil fuel and works towards the change the political setup. If there is no more oil, US will no more be interested in gulf regions or rage war against the innocent people in the name of terrorism.
People will fight for food and water and this is going to be the situation everywhere in this world. It is time to use brain memory to think calculate, store etc., rather than relying on machines.
If some of you are saving money to travel the world by flying after twenty or thirty years. It will only be your dream. Make hay while the sun shines.
Spare some time to see this documentary for you will get a broader perspective of what is happening and what will happen in the future.

http://www.documentary-film.net/search/watch-now.php?&ref=76

RTI Act of India

For folks in India and those who want to truly make a difference in India's domestic policies, you need to look into the RTI Act (Right to Information Act) which is currently gaining momentum in some cities. But what we need is the same momentum in rural areas. People need to be made aware of what they can do in the face of the Government's actions/inactions.
Citizenship is more than just voting and deciding who the leaders are. The responsibility doesn't stop there. Citizens have to realize that the taxes they pay to the Govt are to be brought back to the country's welfare and development. More than 70% of the people in India don't realize that the Govt is accountable to them every bit they promise in their manifestos.
Check out Parivartan - Fighting Corruption and Arvind Kejriwal the man behind it and who has been selected for the Ramon Magsaysay Award (http://www.parivartan.com/)
What we need is to spread this awareness in every state in India - the people/citizens can make a difference after all. The key is to propagate this through educational channels where the primary recepients are children and the youth.
(picture courtesy http://parliamentofindia.nic.in/)