Corruption, Politics, Democracy, Team Anna, India ...

Anna is till speaking at the Jantar Mantar while yours truly could not resist the urge to publish this post. Last couple of days have been very eventful, not just because of the Rakshabandhan and my B'Day. Yesterday Team Anna (TA) decided to make their movement political and today they are announcing/explaining the decision in some detail. I personally am happy with the decision. It is high time we started doing something about changing the whole system - rooting the corruption out of it. Even DS, the person who wrote the first letter to TA to join politics has welcomed the decision. Good that TA wants to take the movement out of the streets and into the parliament. That would be the logical step, or is it?

I have always maintained that, "we can bring about change, we are the change". The movie Yuva (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0382383/) captures my thoughts well - common man getting into electoral politics to bring about change. The story of Paritrana (http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2006-01-24/india/27794947_1_iit-bombay-jodhpur-party) is what perhaps needs to be replicated in a much larger scale, all over the country. But alas, most think that this approach is not practical. Yours truly has not done justice by just talking about it but not doing anything about it yet. The moot question is - what can/should be done? I believe the answer to that question can be found by understanding what is wrong in the current system and how the system has ended up in the current state.

Democracy is the government of the people, bu the people, for the people. It is said that politics is the last refuge of all scoundrels. The response to this is that if good people do not get into politics then they should be ready to be ruled/governed by scoundrels. Is it not a no brainer that the citizens are responsible; that the buck stops with the citizens? Will it really be of any help if a small portion of the society tries to force issues by using sit-ins? Do we need a more fundamental change, at the grass roots? Do we need to educate the citizens? Do "good people" need to get into politics? I think that the answer is a resounding YES.

Can we emulate Yuva and Paritrana? Some time back, perhaps last year, AH mentioned something to the effect that Indian electorate is not intelligent. He mentioned that in the context of how easy it is to buy/influence their votes. Today MP, a life long activist, said that TA should think a thousand times before entering into politics; that people acting with morality and principles have been ineffective or have not survived politics. Even SH, the lone crusader from the south, too has reservations about trying to change the system from inside. To top it all, DS said that the ministers and politicians have been elected by the people and if TA thinks they have an alternative then they better prove it. Why are seasoned crusaders skeptical about getting into electoral politics and taking the fight to the parliament? Why does DS seems so confident that TA will not succeed? Most important, what can be done to ensure that TA is successful, what can we do???

Cleaning Toilets & Child Rights

Between the coverage of Olympics and Team Anna's protest many of you would have seen or read about the some reported incidents of students cleaning the toilets of their schools. First, it brought back memories of us sweeping the classroom clean in school. Cleanliness is good hygiene,  it is also part of the culture. We did feel proud to sweep and keep the classroom clean. I was happy to see that students in 2012 too were rooted.

And that is when I read and saw the stories in detail. No, the coverage was not about the good deeds of the children. It was rather about the child rights - children should not be forced to clean the toilets. Yes, I agree that children should be studying and having fun. But should they also not learn about cleanliness? Yes, the government should spend enough on education to employ and pay the cleaners. But till that time are the students expected to use dirty toilets? 

Is it really bad to clean one's own toilet? Is the toilet still not an essential part of home? Why do we still find the toilets of even not so poor households unclean? Perhaps the students learn by doing. Perhaps this will eventually curb the roadside peeing. Many countries require their youngsters to devote at least a year to military or civil service. I guess, cleaning toilets should be an essential part of the experience.