The discussions was mainly around points raised by my dearest friend Rakesh Dubbudu, An ardent RTI Activist (you read about his work in newspapers once almost every couple of months) and one of founding members of BHUMI. He raised simple and most valid questions that every citizen need to think on...Plenty of discussions already on the facebook page). One question that struck me was…
Why are we doing things that Govt. is supposed to do?
Here is my attempt NOT to answer the question… but just wish to express my thoughts on them...
Are we supposed to do them? Govt. is supposed to do in first place; we need to remind the responsible authority and get things done. NGO’s just do all the work that Govt. is supposed to do… (NGO’s I mean all those emphatic people who take up activities feeling sorry about the situation)
The questions were very appropriate and sound logical to me… and so I dwelled on question, why do NGO’s and an altogether a parallel framework exist? Is there really a need for us (citizens) to take up activities that Govt. is supposed to do but not doing?
The viewpoints though looked contradictory; both converge at one thing - “Call for action!”.
They seemed to be just different schools of thought
- Some take up protest, show the authority elected what they need to do and get things done.
- Some work on them as much as they can without any direct protest… but taking as little help they can get from people who are supposed to do.
Is it a debate to find out which action is right or wrong, which way will get you sustainable results/ which one will quick results… I feel it is inappropriate. Everybody is contributing whatever they feel is best and in the right spirit, and every effort is needed. Right or wrong is just a perspective relative to the reference of time & circumstances axis. People view it from different coordinates and so have different perspective images. :)
Looking through our past, our freedom struggle… is it Gandhi’s non-violence movement that brought us freedom or is it activism of Azad and Bose… it’s difficult to say, and it’s even difficult to measure. Definitely a combination of every effort put in various forms for about 100 years resulted in freedom from British.
If you find a robber in your home… What should you do? Call police/ fight yourself / Shout for help/ leave him to rob (else he will harm you) and take action later? I can’t say… but I am sure... you will do whatever you feel appropriate at that point of time. That's it all about.
I feel it’s not worth to discuss which way is right… It like asking which cell in your body is keeping you alive? Cells take birth, do the duty they are supposed to do and die, and new cells take birth… they evolve and that’s how they made you man from a monkey. That was a result of each cell’s feeling to evolve as something better. The question, “which is better, monkey or man?” can again attract different perspectives and debate… fact is that they co-exist. Every cell wants to evolve to better, so do every human, and that’s how a nation is formed.
The most appreciative thing in both kinds of people is they were the people who wanted to TAKE ACTION in whatever way seemed appropriate to them. And that’s what makes the difference!
