Many of us by now have several stories of misery, disappointment, struggle of this pandemic to share. The situation suddenly turned so grim and the administration was so ill prepared that a common man was just left awestruck, helpless and dazed to witness all kinds of shortages.
Many are trying whatever possible, within their capabilities to help others out - some managed medicines, some managed oxygen and some used their connections to manage beds for their near and dear ones. Some come back relieved and delighted, thanking God, but some are not so lucky and lose their dear ones.
Its high time now we as a society , realise that, all these years we were living in a room full of dust which was settled on floor, on doors and walls and we had got used to living like that ... and suddenly some one has switched on the Fan at Full speed and this dust which was settled is now flying all over the room and has made our lives miserable.
Many who have worked sincerely in the Govt departments have been stating for many many years, that entire system has got rotten and has become ineffective and the more one probes the system deeper and tries to remove the dust one only finds, inefficiency, indifference, callousness, corruption, indiscipline and sab chalta hai attitude. Many sincere and honest employees with the Central and State Govts in private have said ; They have almost given up.
Some eminent scholars like Mr Nanipalkhiwala, Mr Jagmohan and even Mr Arun shourie in their Books have brought to the fore the rotten nature of our system of governance. Mr Jagmohan in his book My Frozen Turbulence wrote ;
"When democracy becomes corrupt the best gravitates to the bottom and the worst floats to the top and vile is replaced by more vile".
Nani Palkhiwala in his book - The Mess We are In, many years ago said ;
"The symptoms of our malaise may show themselves in price rise, disputes, shortages but underlying the symptoms is a disease which has destroyed
democracies in the past and the causes of that disease are not economic. They are ; moral, political and constitutional and in order to cure it we must
recognise them as such."
But we paid no heed to all this, and Covid has exposed us all.
A Politically vitiated society, is all the time busy in mud slinging rather than focusing on the Administrative aspects of eductation System, health care system,
transportation, etc. that have an impact on our well being. More than their own well being they are interested in the elections and the political parties.
We as a result over a period of time become a DEFECTIVE DEMOCRACY.
When India was on the verge of becoming Bankrupt in 1990s we launched economic reforms but never addressed the root causes which led the nation to
that stage. As a result scams continued to happen, PSU Banks' health kept deteriorating, Rich continued to become richer and poor became poorer and
farmers continued committing suicide..
Even in last six years except a few reforms most of them are not meant to address the root causes that have made governance ; defunct and ineffective..
It is this reason why we still have Pathetic law and order system and judiciary enjoying long holidays.
It should by now be clear, as many did not agree with me in 2020 that if we do not get our acts together and put our house in order this virus is here to stay ;
Wave 1 ..Wave 2...Wave 3..Wave 4....
I had in my previous article written that the pandemic will have SOCIAL- POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC RAMIFICATIONS as deep
as the World War 1 and 2 had.
So What can be done now ?
To be Continued.
Author. Col N Bhatnagar is an alumnus of NDA, Prestigious Def Services Staff College and XLRI. He served in Indian army as an Infantry Officer in all parts of the country and also in Srilanka and has also worked with Reputed Companies - Power, Hospitality and Health Care sector . He has also worked as a National Assesssor of CII for its CII-EXIM Bank Award and HR Excellence award. He has also authored Three Books.
Disclaimer. The views expressed are of Author.