Will India Change in 2020?

Since my childhood, I have heard our late ex president Dr Abdul Kalam’s words “India will become a superpower by 2020”. We are a developing country for more than 7 decades since independence. Are we moving towards becoming a developed country? Stop the blame game on anyone. But where are we now? Are we even closer to achieving that goal?

India definitely have a better image in the world stage right now. We shouldn’t lose the boat of becoming a developed country if we don’t plan on war footing once we come out of current corona crisis. Definitely Government is making many plans to help people and businesses in need. India has a huge opportunity to move faster than countries like China, US or Japan when you compare the average age group of an Indian which is less than 30. Covid-19 lockdown gave us enough time to think and leap forward. And especially it also shows us where are we lagging. Until unless we work on war foot, we won’t achieve the status even in the next decade. I know things are progressing but definitely not a few can run this whole country machine and mission. It should be a cumulative effort from every one of us.

Will India Change in 2020? — illustration 1 I stumbled upon a statement by Supreme Court judge during a hearing, “If they are being provided meals, then why do they need money for meals?”. This was a PIL seeking wages for migrant workers who is kept in shelter homes due to Covid19 crisis. I have no words to explain the huge disconnect I see here between the people at the top and bottom of the Maslow’s hierarchy. It was disheartening to see the daily wagers who walked from metro cities to their home towns due to Covid-19 lockdown situation. I saw people in thousands stranded at Chennai and Delhi bus stations after the lockdown period. They just need facilities and money to go back to their home town. As a citizen, when I enjoy a lot of facilities in this country, why not them? Why does my country treat them in a different way?

The current tough measures that we are taking due to Corona makes me realise that anything is possible if the need and intent aligns together.

Whenever Government makes any strict measures, the people at the bottom and the middle layer gets affected the most. Whether it is demonetisation or lockdown, who gets affected the most? Why not we look at the problem from the other side for the greater future of our country? I have a few recommendations for a nation to grow faster.

Here are a few tough measures that the Government needs to consider after coming out of Corona crisis.

Make all the MLA and MPs and all the level one & two(Judges, IAS, IPS, IFS, etc) Govt servants should send their kids & grand kids to Govt schools till 10th standard. Important to notice: Kids & Grand kids. All the politicians and senior officials are generally 50 and above. In this way, the basic educational standards will improve. If you do not know, Central Government runs Kendriya Vidyalayas across the country. Why can’t they run all the Government schools with good quality with the help of State Governments?
Bar people above the age 80 from contesting any elections. There is no irreplaceable leader. We need active people.
Stop elected people jumping parties. If someone still wants to change, make that is their final tenure of their political career. They should leave politics and party after the tenure is over.
Stop criminals being elected. Bar them from the party level. Bring it as a law for barring anyone to be in a party with a criminal case. Now count the criminals sitting at the parliament and state assemblies.
Install CCTV footages at all the Government offices including the state assembly, MP & MLA offices. Especially at all Govt ration shops, godowns and wherever Govt stores any of their property. After all they are there to serve people and not to make any deals. Make the video evidences available publicly forever.
None of the biggest defaulters who escaped from India ever came back or the money they looted. I don’t even know whether India has any black money outside of the country. But going forward try to bring strict rules for the banks regarding NPAs and the lending procedure.
Bring in a law and make all the efforts to bring justice faster on cases at court. Set a deadline for every criminal case. I don’t suggest for punishments to hang people. But make judgements faster. Four rapists of a popular case were hanged recently after 7 years of trial in court which consumes everyone’s time in the country when the crime is proved. Justice system needs to work faster. Find and fix the gap there to fast track cases.
What’s wrong in adding another tax slab for who earns more than a crore/year and putting them in 40–50% tax slab. Look at US and other country slabs. Bring in a super rich class slab for people who is making 10s & 100s of crores. Make them do adoption of villages.
Try to fix the issue with Pakistan once forever in a good way. I am not sure how is it possible but it will save the expense on defence which takes a huge cut in our GDP. I know it is simple to say rather than doing. But hope the current Government can do it when they can find closures to Kashmir and Ayodhya issues.

All these efforts will cost lesser than the money Government might spend as stimulus package and economic reforms due to the Covid-19 crisis. All these needs support from the respective statement Governments. What will be the result of all these? This will slowly cleanse the political system and pave way for betterment of India. When the people on the top start giving instead of taking, it is going to help the people at the middle and bottom. All the above points affect the people on the upper layers inside our system. If you want to make a huge difference, the responsibility should come from the top always. I really believe that current Government have more interest towards our country. If this ever happens to be true, this Government will rule forever.

“Tough time needs tough measures. Not only for the people at the bottom”

Don’t ask me how much of this is possible and feasible. Everything is possible if there is an intent. And yes, definitely there is a huge list of responsibilities for every individual citizens. But why don’t we start from the top for a change?

#IndiaNeedsChange #ChangeIndia