I do not understand politics, nor do I have any inclination to get to know it better. The most lavish and grandest festival of democracy – Elections are round the corner and so are the speculations about its outcome. Does it really matter who comes to power? What difference does that make?

Nothing, because all parties are the same at the end.

Many people think of voting as “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” but then known devil is always better than unknown. Some people actually do not vote thinking that there is no point voting as in the end all the parties get together. There are so many post election mergers that it is no point voting for anyone. But not going out to vote means giving the corrupt politicians a chance to use your vote. It is like giving in to their power.

But what makes a difference is a majority government. All parties are trying their best to woo the citizens. Free electricity, Color TVs, separate statehood, Ram mandir, Rice/wheat at Rs.2 and much more. As one of the promotional ads says all this is the price you get for putting your future in someone’s hands. If one party promises rice/wheat at Rs.3 per kg other one comes with a counter offer of Rs 2 per kg for rice and wheat within no time.

Where will all this come from at such a cheap price? Will they pay from their pockets?

Obviously not!!!

They will all increase the fiscal deficit again. The ruling parties consider increasing fiscal deficit as a trivial thing. They can do as they want, after all who can question them for 5 years once they are in the government.

While promising all this and while distributing money all of them are forgetting that our country has bigger and more urgent problems to solve. Getting out of this economic slowdown and fighting terrorism are more important than building a temple, a separate state, opposing English medium schools and usage of computers.

It is actually funny that some of them have manifesto saying computers are causing job losses and the jobs will be created by eliminating computers.

We the citizens have a bigger role to play in this election. We have the responsibility to choose better of the worst lot and get majority for one party. India cannot afford a political limbo at this point. Our economy needs a momentum, and we badly need foreign investments that would come in only if we have a stable government.

If various surveys are to be believed it is going to be a coalition government which is predicted to fall in 2 years. Unstable government means no concrete decisions, no foreign investments, and no genuine efforts to make a change. It’s going to be a classic case of too many cooks spoiling the broth. Parties will be busy fighting for ministerial posts instead of dealing with the problems being faced by the nation. They will play their favorite game of blaming it on each other.

Morality and ethics are at an all time low in Indian politics. Independent candidates are almost like blank checks. Post election the winning independent candidates are traded like IPL players (surely they get better rates than the players).

It’s the citizens of this country who have lost their loved ones because of terrorism or who have lost their jobs because of the financial crisis not the politicians.

Lighting candles doesn’t work in India neither do mass signature campaigns. It’s high time we choose the right candidates and question them when they do not fulfill their promises. Its time to question their promises and to ask them how they intend to fulfill their promises. They need to be asked why they are keeping regionalism and religion above security. A better solution will be the ability to recall a candidate who doesn’t do any work for his/her constituency.

We need to unite, question and choose the right candidate. Is it ethical on their part to fight elections from one party and join another after winning?

Every party now knows that they need not do good work to prove themselves and get majority. They can always buy the winning MPs or independent candidates. They have taken the youth and the salaried class for granted. That is why all the promises they have made are for the poor and rural people who can be easily duped.

We need to stand up for ourselves and for our country. We have to choose a sensible and accountable government and hold it responsible and answerable for whatever it does. Looking at the cost of each election we cannot afford election every two years. We need to use our heads and be the decision makers. We need to set our priorities right and choose a candidate who can work beyond free electricity or food.

Getting a stable government means a chance to make a change. Once we have a stable majority government we can take the next step of making it answerable and accountable for whatever it does and for all this to happen we need to go out and use our right to Vote.

Its time we stop blaming and start acting. It is our country and we are responsible to choose who will run it for us.

Image Credit: Ramesh Lalwani

Popularity: 28%

I was travelling recently and chanced upon a newspaper whose headline read “Designer Babies-Parents could soon choose their kids’ genes”.

Since the newspaper was not in my hand, I could hardly read the full content. Initially, my thought was that it was some fashion statement where “genes” was misspelled for “Jeans”…but later on I realized it could be very well beyond my imagination. I couldn’t stop my curiosity and wanted to find out more.

The same evening, I did a little bit more research on Designer Babies and guess what I found out ?…Just what I had feared when I found this interesting article in Time. It says

Until just a few years ago, making a baby boy or a baby girl was pretty much a hit-or-miss affair. Not anymore. Parents who have access to the latest genetic testing techniques can now predetermine their baby’s sex with great accuracy

It further goes on to say

Within a decade or two, it may be possible to screen kids almost before conception for an enormous range of attributes, such as how tall they’re likely to be, what body type they will have, their hair and eye color, what sorts of illnesses they will be naturally resistant to, and even, conceivably, their IQ and personality type.

It sounded like a baby shopping experience, just like buying a car and then its accessories. How ridiculous is that?

Agreed science and technology has made our life simpler in many ways more than one. We can no longer live without them – they are part of an urban life, these days. But having to think that my grandchildren will be a combination of the traits picked and chosen by my children, brings butterflies to my stomach. At least that is a path that I would never want my kids to take.

It is a dangerous road that is being laid out in front of the world. I hope that India, even at a distant future, doesn’t encourage such innovations or technological advancement. It does seem unlikely that India will follow suit given that it is illegal even to determine the sex of the child, leave alone its genetic traits.

This, according to me, is totally against the nature and anything against the nature will have its own repercussions.

America –Are you listening?

Image Credit: Jenn Jenn

Popularity: 83%