Anybody Remembers Satyendranath Dubey?

Anybody remembers Satyendranath Dubey? He was in news way back in 2003. An honest engineer, Dubey exposed the irregularities and corruption in government’s ambitious road development programme. Nothing much happened! He paid the price of his honesty by his life. And after becoming breaking news for few days, the name Satyendranath Dubey is a forgotten history now. Then anybody remembers that honest IOC office Manjunath Shanmugam? He tried to crack down on oil mafia and got killed in the process. A few days news story, Manjunath is just another stale issue now.

Yeshavant Sonavane is a recent victim of this same ‘honesty is the best policy’ doctrine which Dubey and Manjunath followed. He attempted to bust the oil mixing racket. He was honestly doing his duty but corrupt system punished him in a gruesome manner. Now at least everybody must realise that in the present situation ‘Honesty can be Hazardous’. Yeshavant Sonavane is sensational breaking news now. But very soon he would also become a distant memory, a one para news item on 6^th page, which will merely report that the investigation is in progress. With world cup and IPL round the corner this will happen pretty soon.

By choosing to forget Dubey, Manjunath, Sonavane and many others who have fought the corrupt system and suffered on account of that, we as a society are failing ourselves. We over the years have come to accept that cancer of corporate corruption, scams, bribery, criminalisation of politics are part and parcel of our modern day India. More unfortunately the educated middle class which is a main pro-reform force in any society is becoming more and more insensitive in these matters. By tuning in to music or dance reality shows we are ignoring the burning reality around us. Our great nation may not be in a state of anarchy as of now, but we are certainly heading in that direction.

We must collectively resolve to change this direction. This does not require revolutions, or sacrifices and all that. Revolutions do not generally solve the problems, but complicate them. What we need is a little determination to be well- aware, responsible and sensitive citizens. Try to fight social ills in whatever limited way possible, don’t accept bribes and also stop paying them. We must stop seeking personal favours from political and administrative functionaries and to give undue importance to them. In fact there should be a system of effective monitoring of performance of our leaders and we should be able to question them on development and social issues. We must realise that the political leaders and other administrative machinery are there to serve the people at large; they are not kings but public servants who are answerable to citizenry. We can also use modern day tools like Internet to create awareness on development issues and in fight against corruption, injustice and other social ills. Lastly as citizens we must exercise our voting rights, thoughtfully.

We can make a difference but for that it is essential that we remain, sensitive towards the state of our nation and its prospects. And we can be sensitive only when we keep alive our hope. Yes presently there is darkness and destruction all around. But it should never deter the hope for our bright future. There is a beautiful Sanskrit SubhashItam

"आशा नाम मनुष्याणाम काचिद आश्चर्य शृंखला

यस्य बद्धा: यो धावन्ति पंगुस्तीष्ठती मुन्चवत"

(Hope is a remarkable chain. Those who are tied by it keep running (towards their goal) while those who are freed from it become lame.)

Hence as a nation we must never let our hope die....we must run with a determination and hope towards realising a goal of better India for all of us. And then one day, definitely we will see a light at the end of the tunnel.

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