A Democracy Called India

Its been quite a few months since i last blogged..call it laziness or a shortage of ideas. I was in deep introspection saddened by the events that were happening around us in the Indian sub-continent. It seemed that life had lost its value and our political system looked at life as mere numbers in chart of Central Statistical Organization. I wanted to dvelve deeper into the subject of democracy or to be more specific democracy as it is practised in India. The naxal problem, Union Carbide, ricing prices all had a common theme of suffering and the people affected were commoners like you and a vast majority of us..Another common theme that emerged from each of these national issues is poor quality governance be it at state level or national level that plagues our democracy..Let's look at each of these issues one by one - Naxal problem. Its been around for a few years now and while State and Central Governments look at the issue as a military solution the core issues are issues of sustainable development and having a growth engine for the tribal areas that represent the Naxal red zone. Having been associated with the mining industry that is at the centre of the issue i can definitely say with a knowledge of local conditions that most mining companies barring a few excpetions have failed to look at environmental issues of mining and the impact on the lifelihood of local tribes that have lived in these areas for centuries. That would explain the skepticism of the common man when you visit one of these areas which are ear marked for what the government and large corporations called 'turn key' projects.