Freedom is not free, every generation needs to earn its freedom

It is never the activity of rascals that destroys the society, but always the in-activity of the good people that does it. What a paradox, if they were really good would they be inactive? or are they also rascals just labeled as good?
India is not the first country with problems, but it’s the first that is not coming up with solutions.

Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Co-operation with the government is the duty of every citizen so long as the Govt. protects their honour; non-Co-operation, is an equal duty when the government, instead of protecting, robs its citizens of their honour. ”

Our level of patriotism is reflected by the degree of injustice we are willing to accept. A patriot hates injustice. The highest form of injustice is when “Injustice” is considered “Justice.” Judiciary is the custodian of democracy. People may be helpless to prevent injustice, but they can never be prevented to protest against injustice. Injustice is the seed which destroys every nation. Does protest mean taking the law in your own hands? . Civil disobedience for a just cause and being willing to accept consequences to awaken the conscience of the people amounts to showing the highest respect for the law and not taking the law in their own hands.

Patriotism is not an emotional outburst, but a complete dedication to a bigger cause.
Crime on women or any crime for that matters is a:
(a) Social problem (b) Cultural Problem
&
(c) Political problem

How:
(a) It is a social problem because it reflects the individual and societal values.
(b) Cultural problem: Where is it originating from and how endemic it is? Any behavior wide spread becomes a culture.
(c) Political problem: Political strength of leadership either prevents or perpetuates the problem.
We need to evaluate :
a) Causes
b) Take corrective steps
We need also to evaluate:- Ways to prevent and punish those who do not respect the dignity of others.

Causes:
The incident of the 23 year old rape and violence victim shows the utter degradation of values. I do not know a person or society which is 24 carat pure, but there is a big difference between 22 carat and 8 carat purity. When I talk of degradation, I confess that none of us have a monopoly on values.

All of us have made mistakes in life, some of omission or commission. There was a time when we made a mistake in the past we had a remorse, we felt bad about it. But today, people don’t feel bad because they made a mistake, they feel bad why did they get caught. That is degradation.
One major cause is a breed of people nouveau riche people, who have made new money or got new power by hook or crook. They have made millions but have no values and somehow with their behavior they are telling the world that they have “arrived”. They have syndrome called, “Don’t you know who I am?” and somehow, they try to show their masculinity through their anti social behavior. Our male chauvinists look at women as an object of sex to be used and discarded. The average age of criminals has gone down from 17 to 12 years.

What happened to this 23 year old, was not just rape. If rape was the only intent then the gang rape criminals (current incident) would have stopped with rape, but they pushed a steel bar into her. This is outright sadistic behavior which is taking pleasure out of other person’s pain.
These are reflections of our society and its leadership. Many politicians have worst criminal records than most people in jail and this would disgrace any nation. These criminal politicians influence the future of the entire nation. They have been provided bodyguards when they themselves really belong in the jails.

Nation is seeking strong laws and fast track courts. Granted we need both. But the biggest question is where are the fast track judges with integrity. According to the Ex Law Minister, Mr. Shanti Bhushan, 8 out of 16 Chief Justices of India are corrupt. According to Justice Bharucha, 20% of the judiciary at higher level is corrupt in India. According to the news papers, Hindustan Times, May 25, 2007, as many as 77% of Indians believe the country’s judiciary is corrupt, and 36% paid bribes to the judiciary last year. This is not just a perception, these are facts as per Media Reports, which have gone unchallenged. This is reflected in the sufferings of the people. The legal system is such that it shelters the criminal and penalizes the honest. How could we ever have criminalization of politics , if the judiciary had done their job with integrity?

Sadly the interviews made by our politicians have been totally non committal reflecting their true slippery character. Acting sympathetic by saying we understand the pain, we also have daughters and families and such atrocity also could happen to them. They are the same people who send their kids with bodyguards and sten guns. Being a women politician didn’t help either, it seems they are politician first women second. Why would Mrs. Pratibha Patil before leaving her post as a President of India reduce the death sentence awarded to those convicts who had raped and murdered a six year and a 10 year old girl to life imprisonment?

I wonder why politicians who are representatives of the people need such heavy security of 20 bodyguards with sten guns. Why are people’s representatives so scared of their own people that they need a line of defense of bodyguards between them and their people. The answer is very simple. Many of them have committed such heinous crimes that they are scared for their own lives.

I heard one of the police officers giving an interview that our police force is over worked. I totally agree with him that they are very overworked. Doing what? Collecting Haftas, even 24 hours are too short for them. This is common knowledge that they pay money to politicians and bureaucrats to get the police jobs and lucrative postings. Aren’t our law makers the biggest law breakers? In fact our women are even scared to go into a police station, out of fear of being raped by the police.
Filing an FIR against the Former Army Chief, Ramdev and others amounts to total high handedness such as was done by the Britisher during our freedom struggle. This is not a protest, but it is freedom struggle. Haven’t we become bigger slaves than before? It is so true that freedom is never free every generation have to earn its own freedom.
All that the politicians promised was a swift action. Swift action did come in the form of shutting the metros, lathi charge , water canons and tear gas shelling on innocent unarmed people asking for justice. It is not unusual for dubious politicians to plant their own anti social elements to derail the protest.
For the last 65 odd years the politicians and Government of India have been oppressing their own citizens, isn’t this the worst kind of terrorism? Today the Government of India has become the biggest terrorist to its citizens.

Remedy:
We need both long term and short term remedies, preventive and corrective. Right now to address the current protest

Govt. needs to do following immediately:
1. Get their legal team to create a bill which addresses issues of rape and violence on women. These laws exists all over the world and there is enough precedence. It can be done within 24 hours.

2. Within 72 hours a fast track court ought to be created where hearings should be done on day to day basis for 3 kind of cases:
(a) Rape cases
(b) Political corruption
(c) Bureaucratic corruption

3. Approx. 25% post of judges across India are lying vacant why is that?
Not being able to fill those positions amounts to administrative failure, doesn’t it ?
Fill the vacancies within 30 days after evaluating and assessing the integrity of the judges. Similar daily hearings such as that were done in the US on Arthur Anderson case should be done in India and judgments announced.

4. In order to have honest people as parliamentarians, we need to bring the following reforms:
(a) Police reforms
(b) Judicial reforms
(c) Electoral reforms

5. Educating the masses regarding human values through media and school curriculum.
The frustration has gone to such a point where a Supreme Court Judge said that the malice and corruption has gone to such an extent that even God cannot save India. If he feels so helpless, just imagine the plight of the common citizen? Yet our politicians are only playing politics to gain power at the cost of destroying our nation. Isn’t this the height of treachery?

Citizen Responsibility:
People who do not get involved by standing up for a just cause, they have no right to criticize the system. They invite much deserved injustice by not getting involved. If we are not part of the solution then we are the problem.
Our politicians have reached a point of no return. They cannot be awakened. One can only awaken those who are asleep, but those whose conscience are dead need only to be replaced.