Voices from Uttarakhand

CAN WE RUN THE CLOCK BACK FOR UTTARAKHAND AND SAVE IT

The editorial team of Satish Sharma and Ashok Misra of Garhwal Post have done a yeoman service to the State by compiling and writing, Voices of Uttarakhand, a journal which comprises some excellently researched articles, penned by those who know and feel for the Himalayan regions of Garhwal and Kumaon. The articles essentially focus on the humongous tragedy that engulfed the State in the wake of the fury of nature unleashed upon it by the unprecedented rains, the argument over whether it was a human tragedy caused by man’s neglect or else God’s intervention, the ill preparedness of the State Government administration to cope with the situation, the fiasco of the Disaster Management Organization to address the emergency and the ubiquitous presence and sacrifice of the Armed Forces and the Para Military personnel, to prevent the mayhem from further escalating and exacerbating the tragedy.  Anyone, who is genuinely interested to learn about the circumstances, which actually brought about this situation and what can be done by the various stakeholders in the matter, to prevent a reoccurrence or else substantially mitigate the adverse consequences should it happen - then this is a must read. Unfortunately, what has undeniably emerged from the print of all the pages of the journal, without exception, is the callous, inefficient, incompetent, laidback, avaricious, apathetic and loathsome attitude of the Politico - Bureaucrat - Corporate nexus, which is loudly evident in the makings of the tragedy. The people too, to an extent were lured by the opportunity to make a quick buck by getting sucked into the quagmire of corruption, by being a party to it and seeking favours, which were illegitimate and in transgression of the rules which regulate real estate in Uttarakhand. The experts, who have written herein, are very apprehensive of the situation playing itself out yet again and again and the authorities, which should and must be responsible and accountable to the people; do not seem to be serious about the matter at all. 

The mistake that happened in respect of the ill-fated State of Uttarakhand was its statehood as and when it happened. The NDA government, which midwifed the birth of Uttarakhand in 1999, committed a grave error of judgement by granting full statehood to it. Rather, it should have been on the lines of being made a Union Territory, governed and administered by a Lt Governor and his advisors. It was and is the politics of Uttarakhand, which has brought the State to such a pass, where hope is the only constant that enthuses belief in governance. With the bounty of nature, the presence of the four places of Hindu pilgrimage, the rivers and the adventure tourism potential it offers, Uttarakhand is a blessed land that awaits world recognition. The incisive and brilliantly researched and presented articles of Dr Raghunandan Tolia, Sanjeev Chopra, Dhirendra Sharma, Prof B K Joshi, Pawan Jain, Dr V K Bahuguna, Avdhash Kaushal and others is a valuable treasury of ideas for policy formulation and adoption, which should be given continuity, irrespective of the political party which forms the Government. The problem is not that there is a dearth of good and implementable ideas, but instead of realpolitik hijacking these in the political reality which obtains in our democratic system. It is the politics of this State which is its worst enemy and the bête noire of its indigenous people for whom the State was supposedly formed and created. By plunging into statehood right away, instead of travelling the path of a development curve, sustained by the aspirations and interests of its people, which were futuristically hand held by the continuity of a dispensation in a Union Territory, has become our nemesis. If the ideas of people like Dr Raghunandan Tolia and Sanjeev Chopra, who illumine the Indian bureaucracy and have a comprehensive understanding of the ‘Nuts and Bolts’ of the culture, topography, weather and climatic conditions, agriculture and cropping patterns, problems of connectivity etc could only be implemented, the story of Uttarakhand would have been different and its people much better, healthier and happier.     

The challenge, which we face today, can be overcome should there be a consensus among its leaders at a grass roots level to ask for a referendum on reversing the decision of state hood and instead demand the status of a Union Territory, for Uttarakhand. It is only then that some good can come from what is left, because otherwise time is running out fast and furious for this Himalayan Region and the next few monsoons could as well spell a disaster, which will be beyond the capacity and capability of even the Armed Forces and the Para Military Organizations. While I may not be an Oracle, who foretells the doom of my beloved Uttarakhand, but the in your face indications and premonitions, which one gets to see and experience, respectively are definitive and very scary in terms of the human tragedy it will invite, sooner than later. The problem of this State is its very poor polity, difficult conditions, poor economy, lack of an industrial base, scarce agriculture potential of cash crops, corruption and a very mediocre bureaucracy. This gets further compounded with a lacklustre leadership, subservient bureaucracy, growing mafia nexus of the triumvirate and migration of youth from the hills in search of jobs and life enhancing opportunities, in the developed townships of the plains.

The picking is for the people to make, who have the freedom of choice of their actions but not the consequences thereof. Choose now or be prepared to perish in the years to come. The people of the plains will continue to flourish and prosper, but those who are its indigenous habitants will pay a very heavy price for sheer survival. Can Dr R S Tolia and those of his merit and ilk, stand up for the people of the hills to make this happen. 

Brig S D Dangwal 

Pathetic, To say The Least

HOW UNFORTUNATE TO LIVE IN ARBOREA AND SUFFER ITS EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Arborea Luxury Homes, a residential housing complex on the Mussoorie – Sahastradhara byepass road, developed and constructed by Conscient Infrastructure Pvt Ltd Gurgaon, has been in the news for all the wrong reasons, in the recent past. That, the owners and the Resident Welfare Association (RWA) have gone to the Consumer Commission, Dehra Dun and filed RTIs with the MDDA against Conscient, to redress the perceived wrongs, which they continue to live with, was reported in the print media sometime back. The owners have expressed their anguish and deserving umbrage at the litany of complaints, which they have regarding various matters of poor construction, structural defects, failure to deliver on the promises made in the sale’s brochure, maintenance issues, transparency in the accounting of interest free maintenance fund etc. Thereafter, followed two FIRs lodged with the Rajpur Poice Station and the Camp Office of the SSP, Dehra Dun by Brig and Mrs Neelam Dangwal, in the matter of an implied threat given to the veteran officer by a property dealer who lives in 9 Curzon Road and also has an apartment F – 402 in Arborea; and in the case of assault and affray with a lady by the gym attendant, on 17^th Oct 2013, in front of the complex facility.

   Notwithstanding this, what is more disturbing, shameful and a painful matter, is the poor and pathetic understanding of the latter incident of violence, which seized the understanding of the Executive Committee (EC) and made it to act in an inglorious and despicable manner by not being with and standing up for a fellow RWA member, in the horrific incident that has tarred the name of Arborea, when it happened on that unfortunate morning of 17^th Oct 2013, when a 57 years old lady, a Brigadier’s wife and a grandmother to a 9 years old grandchild was assaulted by an employee, the gymnasium attendant. Without showing any sense of due diligence and equanimity in their thinking, the President, General Secretary, Treasurer, Three Members and a Special Invitee to the EC meeting, while unanimously condemning the incident on 17 Oct, in a most strange turn around and volte face on their decision, completely alienated Mrs and Brig Dangwal by  not supporting them and refused to come together, in a show of deserving solidarity, on 18 Oct. The case was as transparent and clear as can be, assault on an elderly woman by an employee, irrespective of the circumstances which lead to it. But, unfortunately, in the stymied and facetiously loaded and prejudiced understanding of the esteemed members of the EC and the invitee member, it was opined that “It is considered to be a private matter of Brig and Mrs Dangwal and hence the EC does not wish to involve itself with the case” . It is a matter of extreme shame for the two women office bearers in the EC, who could not empathise with the pain and suffering of a fellow lady of the community, who had stood up for her self respect and dignity, in the face of extreme insolence and misbehaviour by an employee and was provoked and incited to slap him. And, at which, the gym attendant hit her back with his full force and might. The conduct, and wisdom or lack of it, of the men in this matter of assault on a lady; who comprise the EC and the special invitee to the EC meetings, is a very sad commentary on the state of the Arborea RWA, which has become so egoistic, insensitive, without moral and physical courage that, they consider a reprehensible act of violence against a lady member of the Society / Association, as a personal matter and not as a just cause to stand up for. It is most shameful that such men tenant office in the EC of the RWA of Arborea and another such man is called as an invitee to its meetings, for rendering profound and intelligent advice. Shame is a very mild and inadequate word to describe this act of such people, who have shamed the RWA and Indian Society at large.

 Mrs Neelam Dangwal, the lady who was assaulted by the gym attendant, has in the exercise of her judicial and civil society rights,taken all necessary actions to bring the guilty to book and have him sent to jail. Surprisingly, the vacuous and harebrained EC and the invitee member, in a most bizarre and ludicrous manner of becoming the investigating authority and the judge, a right which they never had and most gratuitously donned upon themselves, found Mrs Dangwal to be the errant party and hence completely disassociated itself from the matter. These men and women must understand that ‘Truth is its own Defense’ and does not require any evidence to either support it or else establish it. This is the travesty of justice at the routine and mundane level, when unintelligible, incompetent and mediocre people who do not understand the meaning of character and are without the requisite moral fibre to be just and wise, masquerade as self appointed adjudicators and conflict resolvers. The Indian society today is passing through a very precarious stage, wherein the ‘Khap’ style of justice prevails in the bucolic heartland of the country, in which they operate outside the boundaries and constraints of ‘Law of the Land’. The EC and its special invitee are no better or worse than the ‘Khap’. In fact, in the understanding of most people who respect women and show regards for their self worth and dignity; the despicable action of the EC and the special invitee is much worse than the self styled ‘Khap’ kangaroo courts, which are a disgrace to a civilized society in the 21^st century of a modern India.

One wonders, what has happened to the sense and understanding of all those who are literate but continue to remain uneducated. These are the upwardly mobile members of our society who are a stigma to its culture and heritage. We must surely protect ourselves from their shenanigans and not be carried away by their trappings of wealth and material indicators, which while providing them with superficial recognition, are no surety of their having the most rare of sense and which is ‘Common Sense”.

It is for the honourable members of the General Body of the RWA, to bring this matter in its next meeting and ask each and every member of the EC as also the special invitee, to render an unconditional apology to the House, for bringing it to disrepute and grave dishonour. I am certain and sure that given our culture and heritage, which idolises womanhood and respects women, wherein our literature and poetry eulogises a woman’s status in our Society by saying “ Yatra Poojte Nari, Tatra Ramante Deva”( where women are respected, the Gods live there); all sensible and unprejudiced people will uphold the dignity of a woman and castigate the EC for its disgusting, immature and pitiful understanding of their stand, as resolved in its Meeting of 18 Oct 2013.

I feel extremely sorry for the warped and pathetic thinking of all those who were party to this decision and PRAY FOR BETTER SENSE TO PREVAIL IN THEIR PERSON, FOR THEIR GOOD AND WELL BEING.

Brigadier (retd) S D Dangwal

E - 102

Cry My Beloved Country

INDIAN SOCIETY IN PERIL AND PAIN

It is a sad commentary on the state of affairs in which we find the Indian Society, today. The people who comprise our society are virtually sitting on the brink of a disaster that can consume all of us, irrespective of caste, colour, religion, gender, class, rural, urban, literate, illiterate, rich, poor divide et al. The one reason which comes out clearly and emphatically for this state of things is the absence of a National Character and a very poor presence of individual character in its people. The 66 years of Independence from the yoke of British Rule, has pushed us into a situation that stares the country and its people with gloom and despair, should unusual circumstances and happenings not prevent this catastrophe from seizing the masses and metaphorically breaking their back. Of the tangible and intangible possessions which fulfil a person, character is the ‘Jewel on the Crown’ and takes the pride of place in the human personality. India’s democracy, which came to its people rather too soon, without going through the grind and cycle of anarchy, dictatorship and oligarchy, which thrust political equality without the requisite social and economic equality on its people; is the major reason for this reality. Our political class and its mediocre leadership did not make things better by exploiting illiteracy, poverty, religion, social deprivation of its backward classes, caste and an indifferent middle class; to take the people further and further away from their inherent nature that is steeped in principles and values. With the people who care about governance not participating in the process of its formation and those who do not care, alone participating in the process of government formation, meant mediocrity nay worse, in the quality of our elected representatives. Historically, the middle class which determines the values and thinking of any society, failed India by remaining exclusive and thus completely alienating the rural masses which comprise more than 60% of its population. Only when the middle class is willing to empathise with and share the travails and torments of the villagers, in an inclusive manner, thus begetting their trust and faith, will it enlarge its identity and social space. While ‘Nirbhaya’ shook the social conscience of Delhi and the metropolises, with human waves coming out on the roads and streets in a show of solidarity with and in protest against the heinous act of some barbaric men and government apathy in the matter of providing protection to its women, the many indignities, molestations, abuses and rapes which continue to happen in the villages, hamlets, settlements and townships do not create a similar reaction or response. This is the fault line, which keeps the masses away from the genuine social causes and issues, which the burgeoning middle class takes upon itself, but yet is unable to create the ripples in the hinterland and the interiors where the majority of India lives. It is a case of them versus us and a turf war is created where none exists, actually. People posture against people because of this indifference to what happens in the villages; the urban middle class cocooned in their comfort zones, while the rural people suffer. And it is this gap, which the political parties and the politicians fill with their craft and manipulations, entirely to their advantage while assuaging the problem, temporarily or not at all, but giving the requisite sound bites and making tall and unfulfilled promises. This is the space in which the political leaders, bureaucrats, village /tehsil / taluka / block administrative set up and the government agencies that are meant to deliver and provide for the masses are hand in glove, incompetent or else just not interested in resolving the problem. Governance fails and the people are marginalised. Religion, caste, sub caste, language, culture and emotions are used as best these can in an expedient manner to divide people and opinion, which is to the detriment of the community and the problem festers and becomes chronic.

Good governance today, is a dream, only because those who vote to select their representatives both in the Lok and the Vidhan Sabha, are swayed by considerations, which have little to do with calibre, competence and sense of righteousness in their candidates. But, instead, largely by a myopic and prejudiced outlook of all that, which they should not be giving any weightage to, in exercising their franchise. We are getting the type of political leaders and the government, which we deserve. There was a time, in this very same country when men and women of character were its representatives in the government and rectitude, probity, morality, ethics were traits which were evident in their person, both in private and public life. This period was unfortunately short lived.

The people, who should have understood and exercised their suffrage to select candidates of substance, were either arm twisted by the power of muscle or else cajoled by the lure of promises and money, among other considerations as already mentioned earlier. Corporate funding of the political parties, presence of unaccounted for money in the market, the earlier practice of licence permit raj in business and now the authority to grant these licenses being with the government, presence of mafia in most fields of commercial activities in which demand and supply create shortages or are essential to human life, corruption in government spending in which 85% of the money gets siphoned off through implementation leakages etc are many of the evils that we live with and suffer. While the poor and the under privileged, who are uncertain of their next morsel, are easy prey to being inveigled by sops given at the time of elections; it is the middle class and those waiting on the sidelines to join it, who are deeply entrenched in the giving and receiving of graft, which has definitively assailed their character and made it pliable on matters of principles, values and righteous living.

This failing of our middle class is very palpably evident in its attempt to evade income tax, avoid sales tax, pay facilitation fee for getting legitimate work done, bribe to get illegitimate work done, avoid punishment for willing transgressions by using money as a force multiplier, offset failings and lack of merit by paying money to overcome the reality etc and has instilled in these people a life without the virtue of character. This is a huge human tragedy for a country, which calls itself as the largest democracy in the world. It is the aggregate of the individual character which throws up a National Character and we are exceedingly challenged in this. Life without character is second nature to us, quite at variance with our innate Conscience, which is our moral and ethical compass. An Indian today is not willing to stand up against all that is wrong, unlawful, illegal, morally reprehensible and ethically deplorable, but instead is secure in the thought and feeling of being secure on the basis of money alone and not on the strength of character, which should be its never exhausting source of dignity, respect, security and power. One really wonders, in these days of the political parties preparing themselves for the General Elections 2014, will it really matter who forms the government in the Centre, because things are unlikely to change at the fundamental level at which we operate and live. The change if it does happen will probably be a short lived chimera, before we yet again get sucked into the quagmire, we have so assiduously prepared for ourselves in the country called INDIA.   

Brig S D Dangwal

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