Politics - Ummeedon wali Dhoop and Sunshine wali Asha

Politics is one topic, which needs proper understanding and the awareness of the same is equally essential for the prosperity of the country and its citizens. But due to various reasons people have chosen to stay ignorant about politics, displayed their disliking forever by being lethargic during the time of voting. They always have a reason to justify themselves. Its only because of the fact that politics is never considered important by the common man. So, new hopes and fresh aspirations need to be spread amongst people everywhere. Also individual attempts at changing system and the large scale awareness about polity is the need of the hour. It is also a fact that it wont be the first time when the people of the country will rise against their suppression. We took giant strides that released the people and the country from the shackles of colonialism, which had not only squeezed the wealth of India but also fettered our freedom. It was a hard-won independence that, we thought, gave us the control over our destiny but the promises and commitment that India made to her people remain unfulfilled. To identify the challenges of the future, India will have to clear the huge backlog of unredeemed promises. She has to fight hunger, poverty and unemployment and cater to such needs of the people as education, health, potable drinking water, housing and rural electrification. The farmer has to be able to use his land and labor to not merely sustain himself and his family, but to earn the wealth that lies in his land. The working class especially labors and wage earners should be able to share the prosperity that is now confined to a very thin layer of the population. India will have to meet the challenges of liberating and empowering women, as the country has to release the backward and the exploited from the age-old bonds of caste & conflicts and double standards in religion. The suffering from corruption in bureaucracy and polity should also witness its ill fate as soon as possible. Mani Shankar Aiyer (MP - Congress Party) a former Indian diplomat turned politician has once given a quote People of India elect us, and then we do the work of capitalist and lobbyist. Thus, periods of optimism and hope has been followed by despair and despondency. So, our politicians need to develop an intellectual ability to combine their commitment to the cause of national liberation with other progressive forces in world politics. For example, China; the most populous country in the world. We should closely follow their policies and developments and draw appropriate lessons. Our preceding politicians had very different notion when they introduced the concept of mixed economy in the country. They wanted to put into practice the 'mixed economy' with a view to reduce social and economic distress. But the general scenario today is far from satisfactory. Without land reforms and democratic decentralization, there persists a high degree of concentration of wealth and power in the hands of the few. An unwieldy bureaucracy has flourished, while the vast masses are steeped in poverty. Distortions in the functioning of the Constitution have led to inequalities in economic advance, a centralized political structure and regional disparities, which, at times, trigger centrifugal outbursts.

The need to look at things afresh and to reorient ourselves for the years to come has become increasingly urgent. We need to develop a system of government, which is truly democratic and not just at the face of it. The faltering development of a full-fledged civil society in India has undermined the working of political democracy in the country. Creation of casteist and religious vote-banks, use of money, corruption in high places, muscle-power and the criminal-political nexus are only some of our socio-political ills. The situation, however, is not irretrievable. What is imperative is to cleanse our socio-political environment of polluting influences. The political parties, be they national or regional, are required to take decisions on major policies and issues of their respective parties in order to ensure political stability in the country. All responsible political parties should come forward to play a leading role to stop this rot. Pay-offs and corruption scandals should not have any place in this system. The people's consciousness has to be raised in order to confront this trend. Stern measures will have to be adopted to deal with the black-money operations, which have now assumed colossal proportions. Even within the existing socio-political milieu, significant changes can be brought about, if the necessary political will is there. Our policies must be so directed that India can achieve freedom from want and hunger. We believe that the present system in India will continue. And if the negative facets within this system are eliminated, much better results will follow.