Adharshila

Adharshila’s raison d’être

A large cross section of our society has been starved of a real sense of pride in being truly free. For thousands of years India did not have the active participation of its citizens in running its governments. Power was exercised by authority on the Indian, breaking his spirit, making him subservient with little hope for his true freedom.

Indeed, even after six decades of independence, it is hard for most Indians to break out of this mould of ‘ruler worship’. This subservience can often lead them to elect, without thinking, the children of politicians who once ‘ruled’ India. But beyond that is the limited desire for freedom and independence which must surely course through the veins of modern man if he is to stand proud and tall, making his own future with his own effort. Consequently, two generations after it became independent, India is racked by bad governance, corruption, autocracy, failed socialist policies and a rotten implementation machinery.

Few, if any, ask why India must have such a corrupt and inefficient bureaucracy and why our ‘democratic empire’ is run by nameless politicians of questionable integrity (or their descendents) who ‘come to power’ in the name of caste or religion or other divisive accounts of Indian reality. No significant change in the governance of India will be achieved until we all realize that we are ultimately responsible for running our own government, and that we are sovereign and free. India is what it is today because we have failed to take responsibility.

Even educated Indians remain apathetic towards anything relating to government. There is a strong dislike for anything political, even a fear of possible reprisals. Most bright youngsters put in endless hours on outdated textbooks to ace engineering or medical school tests or become IAS officers. No one spends a moment to ask how good leaders for this huge democracy will emerge. Instead when they do spend a moment on this, they expect a (new) Mahatma Gandhi to somehow emerge, someone who will bring about the utopian nirvana they want without their putting in any effort.