Ironically, a part of the media is proud that India is rated better than Pakistan though; we are in the bottom quarter of the Global Peace Index (GPI) scale and slid from a pathetic 109th rank in 2007 to dismal 128th rank in 2009 of the 149 countries considered for the study. I, unfortunately, fail to figure out why most of us, including media, are so obsessed with Pakistan in every sphere. Even a child will admit to the fact that the only way to improve in any sphere is to look up to the one’s doing better than we are and working towards it. Pakistan, in no way is a Bench mark for our growth in this fast growing world. However, in absolute terms, we are dragging our selves down the scale due to obsessions, political opportunism, corruption, apathy of the common man towards day to day happenings, division of society and people through mounting animosity among humanity etc.
Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) a US based organisation considers following parameters in arriving at the rankings:
• Internal conflicts
• Terrorism
• Human rights abuse
What is plaguing India is not Human rights abuse? In some countries, the citizens do not have the right to expression and right to choose the government. After having travelled extensively in reasonable number of countries across globe, interacting with citizens of broad spectrum of countries and residing in different countries, I can confidently say that we rank much better in terms of Human rights abuse. Nevertheless, we are losing our PEACE due to internal conflicts and Terrorism which are on rise.
Internal conflicts, be it Ultra-left rebel movement, agitations for separate states, regional and linguistic animosities, River water disputes and Unrest arising from Unemployment and Inflation are result of apathy of the common man towards deterioration of the values in the Indian society, unclipped power enjoyed by the ruling elite, Business houses, emergence of fundamentalism in all spheres of life and resignation of common man to the happenings around him. It is worth while looking at contemporary case in points randomly to demonstrate the deteriorating society.
Corruption: Bofors scandal in l980’s was all about 400 Million Rupees. The citizens of the country at that point of time have rightly shown the door to the corrupt government then. However, telecom scam in the first decade of this new Millennium is worth 5 to 10 Billion Rupees. Despite the enormous magnitude of this scam, the regional party which was involved in the scam and the ruling National party were given another term in this great Democracy.
Political Bankruptcy: Around 20 Engineers in Shriram sagar (Major Irrigation) project in Andhra Pradesh were suspended by the government when Engineers involvement in the corruption surfaced. Paradoxically, a regional party fuelling animosity among the regions with in Andhra Pradesh for political gains is protecting the corrupt officials in the guise of regional bias by the present government. Can anything be more blatant than this? It is amply evident that the political elite we trust are fanning negative emotions and demeaning the society for their own narrow and disgraceful goals.
Ultra left rebels & Anti-social elements: These outlaws and devious groups are involved in extortion, mass killings and dis-orientation of society. In spite, they find backing of some devious individuals, a few ideologically bankrupt politicians and professionals. If successive governments in the infected states were committed, they could have easily surmounted these groups either during their infancy phase or their development phase. To demonstrate this, we need to look in to a news item on how Ultra-left rebels felt suffocated in Jharkand state after the state has come under President’s rule and resulted in the migration of the rebels to West Bengal. Unfortunately, political head wigs in West Bengal across all parties (including the Railway Minister) are indifferent on taking a firm action on the rebels even after so many innocent lives were lost in the train accident due to a suspected sabotage by the rebels. To top it all, there is a disagreement among Federal ministers on the ways and means to fight the rebels, thus mounting the probability of more threats to the common man on the street.
Terrorism: There is a growing scepticism in people across India and outside the country that the Federal and state governments are soft on Terrorist groups due to the fear of alienating a religious community which is considered an obvious vote bank. It does not require the knowledge of rocket science to understand how Afzal Guru, the master mind behind Parliament attacks which has shaken the country could survive so long even after being handed the capital punishment by the highest Judiciary of the country. There are persistence intelligence reports that terrorist groups may resort to terrorist activities and hijacking of planes to secure the release of surviving terrorists in the custody of the law enforcing agencies namely Afzal Guru and Kasab. We fail to understand why the government is dragging its feet in implementing the pronounced court judgements and thus putting many more innocent lives in danger to possible attempts by accomplices of terrorists in securing their release. Regrettably, a few disillusioned people and victims of terror in other communities have retaliated with acts of terrorism, which is highly condemnable and to be nipped in the bud. “An Eye for an Eye” justice does not auger well for our secular society.
Unfortunately, Indian Citizen’s memory is getting shorter and apathy to the transgression in the country is ever-increasing which is a sign of further deterioration in values in the Indian Society and escalation of unrest in the country. It’s time to wake up from the slumber and do our bit.
Citizens of Iceland need to be appreciated for ranking 2nd in the scale despite facing the worst economic crisis in their country’s history in 2009. Generally, economic crisis leads to social unrest and further escalation of crisis. This can be seen in Greece in 2010. However, the citizens of Iceland and the political big wigs across the party lines in that country had shown enormous resolve to overcome the crisis without hurting its social fabric. Kudos to its ruling elite and its citizens.
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