For the most part, citizens feel that anything they receive from an elected official is a gift given out of their goodness and generosity, and not a constitutional right.
I have been working in Gujarat's villages and slums for over 20 years now. Whether it be running health projects in Sabarkantha and Banaskantha, or working on empowering children in Ahmedabad's municipal schools towards environmental activism, be it working in Ramdev Pir No Tekro on issues of diabetes and cervical cancer or even in Valsad and Dang on issues of maternal and infant deaths, we at Darpana have a pretty good idea of what ground realities are. Or so I thought, till I decided to contest the last Lok Sabha elections. I was in for a very rude shock.
My campaign was a whirlwind one but I did visit over a hundred 100 villages in my Gandhinagar constituency, besides every slum in the section of Ahmedabad that lies therein - Vejalpur, Juhapura, Makarba, Ranip and so on. And I managed to speak to many thousands of people.
When in the past, I went with colleagues to conduct a project in an area, it had never occurred to me to ask villagers if they had drinking water. It was only when I went around campaigning that the total lack of basic amenities in village after village, slum after slum, struck home. And thanks to the amazing 'Gujarat shining' campaigns that taxpayers' money goes into, each village genuinely believed that the rest of Gujarat had all the amenities - toilets, schools, drinking water facilities, and primary health centres with staff and medicines.
Another thing shocked me further- despite 62 years of our democracy, the all-prevailing attitude still is the same as in the days of the 'Mai Baap raj' of a feudal society. For the most part, citizens feel that anything they receive from the government or an elected official is a gift given out of their goodness and generosity, and not a constitutional right; that we exist out of their goodness, not that they are elected to serve us or are accountable to us.
All this comes to mind because of the regular and increasingly large disclosures of corruption amongst officials. An IAS couple caught with over 300 crores. The Reddy brothers, with Sushma Swaraj calling them her sons, looting the nation of hundreds of thousands of crores every year. The fracas with the CWG. And we sit silent, ruing things.
When will our outrage turn to action?
If the Jessica Lal verdict could mobilise a nation into an sms campaign strong enough to force the courts to reopen the case, why does the continuing loot of the nation, and of the money that should be spent to make our lives liveable, not generate even a mew? Look at the condition of this city. Did we not know that the monsoon was round the corner?
Does it not rain every year, more or less? Do we not know beforehand, that roads made by corrupt companies, with sub-standard materials and passed by equally corrupt government officials, will collapse as soon as the first rains hit?
Do we not know that gutters will overflow? Do we not know that our hospitals still dump waste which is dangerous, and factories waste that is toxic, and that all of this will flow into our homes and streets to kill us?
Then why are we silent?
AWAZ.org, an online citizens group, operating to stop global atrocities, has managed to stop governments hijacking the climate change agenda for country gains, has stopped a young African woman from being stoned to death, and has brought pressure on the WTO and many more with online campaigns enlisting up to half a million signatories worldwide. Can we not take our corporators to task? Do you even know who your corporator is? And your MLA? Does s/he represent you? Have you approached them? Why not?
Recently, and for the first time perhaps, some residential colonies have gotten together and have taken the AMC to court for lack of essential services for which they are regularly taxed. This is an example that needs following by all of us, to finally bring our elected or deputed officials to task. Remember, they are there to run the city or country on our behalf. If we remain lackadaisical masters and mistresses, they will continue stealing from us, our country and our earth. Beware. Be Aware.
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