Vigilant India, Prosperous India
Satark Bharat, Samriddh Bharat
From the cradle to the grave, from dusk till dawn, each person is faced with challenges and dangers lurking around every nook and cranny. From an individual to a family, community, region and nation, each step towards prosperity calls for “vigilance”. But what is vigilance? Cambridge dictionary defines it as “more careful attention, especially in order to notice possible danger”.
As India prepares itself to don the cape of a prosperous global leader, vigilance is the price it must pay for enduring success in all its endeavours. “Vigilance” is that hub in this growth wheel that binds the spokes of development in polity, administration, society, culture, religion, economy, ecology and security.
Even historical accounts state that it was the lapse in India’s vigilance and ignorance of modern scientific and political developments happening globally, that led to its subjugation by the chains of British imperialism. But the very same vigilance helped it dissect the colonial model and gave birth to the largest democratic nation via peaceful and non-violent means.
In the political arena, on one hand, the ignorance and splitting of voters into communal and caste vote-banks has eroded the legislative pillar of democracy which ails from symptoms as 43% of parliamentarians in the 17th Lok Sabha having criminal charges(ADR report). On the other hand, vigilant citizen movements like “Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan” and “India Against Corruption” have given birth to incredible bulwarks of democracy as “Right to Information” and “Lokpal”, respectively.
Administratively, vigilance in forms as the “Janmaithri Suraksha Project” of Kerala has changed the colonial face of policing to people-centric and people-friendly, through community policing measures. Vigilant citizens have been using social media, smartphones and CCTVs to nab corrupt officials red-handedly, saving crores of black money seeping into the invisible money-laundering and organised crime machinery.
On a social level, the far-sighted and dynamic initiatives adapted to the changing ground realities has helped root out poverty through initiatives as Kudumbashree of Kerala(based on women Self Help Groups) and microfinance initiatives pioneered by Mohammad Yunus. This social vigilance achieved a new high in Delhi’s 2020 Assembly elections when they were fought on development agendas as key electoral issues rather than communal and caste criteria which is the norm in most Indian elections.
Further, our cultural and religious lives have also witnessed the dawn of vigilance, spearheaded by eminent citizens and the judiciary. The Supreme Court has breathed new life into transgender and women rights via its NALSA judgement(2014) and its Triple Talaq(2017) & Sabrimala(2019) judgements, respectively. Considering the dereliction of society and nation towards its citizens, the Delhi High Court has even decriminalised beggary. Thus, rights and freedoms have reigned supreme at the altar of a vigilant judiciary.
In the economic field, constant vigil and strong fundamentals helped India bore the crippling waves of the global economic slowdown. India even attained the coveted spot of “the fastest growing economy” in 2017 and 2018. Further, the lapses in vigilance led to rising bank NPAs, failure of PMC Bank, the colossal IL&FS crisis and even the fleeing of billion-dollar defaulters like Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi.
Vigilance in the ecological fields has led to landmark judgements, laws and movements as the Supreme Court (in 1996) declaring “the Right to Pollution Free Environment” as a Fundamental Right under Article 21, Plastic Management Rules(2016) for a sustainable plastic cycle with ingredients of reducing, reuse & recycle and movements to protect Mumbai’s Aarey Forest & reform the Draft EIA 2020, respectively.
Vigilance in the security apparatus has helped neutralise naive and young ISIS recruits and even prevent major terrorist attacks. Even the Kargil War victory, owes a lot to that vigilant local Sherpa, Tashi Namgyal, who warned the Indian Army in time about the Pakistani intruders.
Thus, as pointed out by Thomas Jefferson, “Eternal vigilance is the price of democracy”. Success, be it individual or national, is a journey, not a destination. It requires constant effort, vigilance and revaluation. The rising challenges of corruption, economic slowdown, communal riots, data hacks, cyber-warfare, terrorism etc stand no chance if each one of us not only pledges to stay vigilant but participates actively to avert any danger. If 132 crore Indians work together, India will move 132 crore steps and soon realise the dream of a prosperous India as envisioned in Rabindranath Tagore’s words:
“Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high,
Where knowledge is free…….
….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.”
