IT'S NOW OR NEVER!

''Feeling good about the government is like looking on the bright side of any catastrophe. When you quit looking on the bright side, the catastrophe is still there''. P.J O'Rourke was so right when he said so. It was for the first time when I was going to a Government office in 'Kerala'. The 'village office' looked no different than any other government office. Files and papers covered each and every space in the office. It looked all so messy.. No wonder, why things get done at the drop of a hat in government offices!! My purpose of going there was to get my nativity and community certificates signed by the village officer. When I entered the room,'sir' looked somewhat busy. I waited for him till he placed the receiver back. I gave him the papers; he looked at his watch(may be he had to go somewhere). He said something in a low, unclear tone. I said,'sorry sir...' ' Is this the time to come?' This time he was loud and rude. He told me to come next week again and went out in a hurry. At this point, I would like to share a report published in 'THE HINDU' dated 21 June, 2011. 'The Vigilance And Anti-corruption Bureau on monday conducted surprise inspections at 164 village offices across the state and said it detected ''inexplicable'' delays and ''lack of transparency'' in the issuing of land transaction forms, caste, income and nativity certificates, among other important documents.' See, this is what happening in a happening country like India.(not to mention about the 'under-table' settlements). Although my friends had told me about the bitter experiences they had at government offices, this was first time for me. It was one minute's work for him but, still he did not do that. After all he is THE VILLAGE OFFICER!
'Government is a trust and the officers of the government are trustees. And both the trust and the trustees are created for the benefit of the people.' and there are no two opinions in the fact that government is working for the welfare of the people. Successful implementation of Kudumbashree units and Akshaya centres shows that the government's heart still beats for the public. So, we can not let a few institutions or persons to spoil our government's reputation. People have the power to make or break a government. So, what we have to do is to stand up unitedly against the injustice. Keeping our mouths shut and cursing the government will do no good. We can make our government an unquestionable authority working for the benefit of the people. And we must do it.. Remember, it's now or never..
' I'm tired of hearing it said that democracy doesn't work. Ofcourse, it doesn't work. We are supposed to work it.'