Dear All,

This peice may interest you although it was posted to some other interested person.

Best Wishes.

Dinesh Mishra

I am working in Bihar which has just concluded its
elections and we all know what is happening there. Two months from hence,
the flood season will start and hundreds of people will die. Can you
imagine, the floods, drought orgrowing unemployment was not an issue in the
recent elections in thestate. It was  caste, religion, language, insider,
outsider, communal,secular and so on. There is no dearth of issues to
divide people. We cannot make any dent in the prevailing institutionalized
corrupt system unless people understand that they are being taken for a ride
by the politicians and then click the right button. Who do the people
listen to? Not us, but to these unscrupulous politicians. I have seen many
well meaning people who wanted to do some good to the society but ,
later,took to different course because nothing moves in the system.
Vinoba Bhave was working on the rehabilitation of refugees from Pakistan,
after the partition, and corruption that prevailed in the concerned
offices edged him out and he found an escape in Bhoodan Movement. And see
what the vested interests did to Bhoodan also. I have a feeling that
within our limited means we can do only two things. Expose the game that
the politicians play, directly or through their agents, and set up
certain constructive models for others, to follow. The former
requires commitment and deep study and the latter requires institutional
base and money. Money does not come easily to those who think independently
and most of those who have money do not know what to do with it (I
am referring to the kind of intiatives that you may be pointing to).
Also,creating an establishment  for oneself runs the risk that all the
energyof the individual would be consumed in running the institutions
and implementing programmes and there would hardly be any scope
for continuing with the  good work. 

Things become difficult in places like Bihar or Assam where, apart from
corruption, you are physically prevented from doing something because of
floods. It is also not possible to adopt a village or so for development as
one can do in the drought prone areas where mobility is, at least, not
restricted and itis  not possible to cordon off an area from flowing
waters. This would also mean that a cluster or a regional approach has to be
followed and that requires huge money. Where is that money? Also, if one
wants to experiment, one must ensure that the given situation does
not deteriorate any further. That would mean that the wrong policies
pursued hitherto, must be stopped. This would lead to confrontation with
the establishment. Most of the NGOs working in these areas are
implimenting their donor's agenda and cannot oppose wrong  policies, whether
of thestate or the donors, for obvious reasons.

The choices, thus, are verylimited but that does not mean that one should
suffer from defeatist tendencies. Let us do something for our society and
hpe that someday thepeople will understand the trap laid by the vested
interests. Preventing unscrupulous elements from entering democratic
institutions is a tallorder. I know, it had been very difficult for any
well meaning person toget four figure votes barring some exceptions. This
is so very easy forthe criminals. That is the given condition.  It is good
that we get an opportunity to discuss issues facing the people and let us
make full useof this opportunity.

Dinesh Mishra