India From An Eye Of An Auto Rickshaw Puller

Hi All Friends,

India is a democratic country, fortunately or unfortunately is a different topic altogether and I will not go deep into it. By democracy, it mean that every individual irrespective of caste, creed or sex can put forward his views, present his opinions, vote, raise questions and even protest against any government practices.

We Indians are wonderful when it comes to criticizing the government policies without even going to vote during elections. But it hardly matters if I vote or not, it is my birth right to criticize government just because it is formed by a party I hate, or vice-versa to appreciate the government because it is formed by a party loved by me or my family. We have always enjoyed this and will continue to do so in the coming years.

So today I would like to tell you an incidence happened with me few days back when I was going to my office in the morning. I took an auto from DLF Cyber City Phase III to Sector-18 where my office is located and then it all started. It was hardly a journey of 30 min. considering the terrible road traffic on NH-8 (Delhi Gurgaon Highway), but I came across a mindset which is worth discussing. It was the auto rickshaw puller who started off the discussion about the current Delhi Government and then continued to tell me of his opinion on present central government, education sector, industrialization and other topics of social significance.

His first line goes like this

"Sir, hum congress ko 50 years de sakte hain but AAP ko 5 saal nahin de sakte. Aisa kyon".

(We can give 50 years to congress but can't give 5 years to AAP)

He was referring to constant criticisim faced by Arvind Kejriwal's way of governance in Delhi. According to him, we should wait for Arvind Kejriwal to work for few years before actually writing him off from Politics. I did not have any answer for his question but the question was striking.

Then he continued saying as below:

"Sir, aapko kya lagta hain ki yeh odd or even number plate ka funda chalega, mujhe bhi nahin lagta ki chalega par banda try to kar raha hain. Aur usne bola hain ki nahin chala to wapas le lenge. kis minister mein himmat hain ki apne decision ki haar accept kar sake".

(He was referring to a decision taken by Delhi Government under which one day only cars with even number will be allowed and next day only cars with odd number. He is admitting the fact that the idea may not work but still appreciate the efforts being put upon to curb the pollution.)

This question definitely put some other questions to us:

• Are we not ready to compromise our comfort for benefit of environment. Lot of people protested against the government for this decision saying that the law is too demanding. Some people told me that they pay taxes when they buy vehicle and that's all what is expected from an individual. 
• Can't we allow a government policy to be tested for few days. 

The auto rickshaw puller did not have a car so it was easy for him to appreciate this decision but not for the people who use their big 7 seated car to reach their workplace. They have already paid lot of taxes at the time of buying the car, now why they should compromise. 

I will leave this question to you but what will happen if an army officer who fought 3 battles for India says that it is enough now as I have already served my country in 3 battles and now I need not to fought any battle for the country, OR what will happen if a municipality garbage collector does not come on any day saying that it is enough of cleaning the country and now I can relax.

Then he continued saying on central government as below:

"Sir, Modi government ko bhi chance dena chahiye. Ek saal mein kuch to hawa badli hain, ladies ke bank account khul gaye, sarkari daftare mein log kam karne lag gaye".

(Modi's government should be given a chance as well. In the last one year, there has been a wave of change. Now ladies have their own bank account, people in government offices have started working).

This may sound debatable as lot of people are not very positive about the last 1.5 Years of Modi government but the fact that there has been changes at lot of places cannot be denied. If you look at the government of India HRD website, you can see lot of work being done in rural parts, also employment generation for skilled people are at rise, more than 90 million people opened their account using Jan Dhan Yojana and many more. But the question was not this.

The question was that is our democracy means that opposition needs to necessarily criticize the ruling government by hook or by crook. Can we have an environment where opposition uses their power to regulate the ruling government practices and debate to improve the operations. 

It seems to be a dream but worth dreaming for it. 

Then he told me his views on education:

"Sir, hamara yahan bhi har bacha bachi sikshit ho sakte hain. Bas yeh sarkari school ki haalat sudhar jaye and sarkari schoolo mein adyapak apni zimmedari samjhe"

(All kids of our country can get quality education if the condition of government schools are improved and teachers understands their responsibilities). 

If we analyze all the issue faced by our country we will be able to relate most of the issues to lack of education. All parents cannot afford to send their kids to expensive private schools and hence government should give more focus to improving the government schools. 

The auto rickshaw puller also told me what he think about the growing industrialization and modernization in the city. He told me that it is good for employment but need to be controlled as he see youngsters like me falling in drunken state, girls and boys smoking, abusing and completely ignoring the values. On this point, I tried to provide some clarification saying that it is limited to few people only but he was not convinced.

Then he ended the discussion saying as below:

"Sir, desk to hamara bahut acha hain, bas har aadmi apni zimmedari samjhe aur sabko khushi se jeene de, aur log neta soch samajh ke chunne"

(Sir, our country is amazing only people need to understand and obey their responsibility and let others live life peacefully. Also choose ministers carefully)

I gave him his due amount Rs.60/- and told him it was nice talking to him. He smiled and left, and then my 5 min walk to workstation was thought provoking and I realized India through the eyes of an auto rickshaw puller. 

Regards

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