Bharat Needs More

My father in his 60s is a staunch armchair Modi supporter like many of his age in this country. So, debating any fall of bridge or deaths of hundreds or heavy taxes with him is a next-to-no problem. He has seen worst. He has seen the forced exodus from Kashmir, dozens of riots, caste & religious politics & much more. So, in his thought process, things have actually improved & he is able to accept some amount of corruption & some amount of government negligence as a normal state of affairs.

Unfortunately for him, his son (I), a “privileged heavy taxpayer” in his early 30s again an armchair not-so-staunch Modi supporter is not able to accept the status quo resulting into arguments followed by short stints of silence.

This article is a raw write down of the emotions of his son.

Who doesn’t want India to be a superpower? I do, and I’m sure you do as well.

We all want to be proud of our nation when speaking to anyone in the world. But there are some fundamental problems that we cannot ignore anymore.

Superpower is not just an arms race, but also about improving the quality of life for its citizens.

• Well managed landfills, and not a country dipped in landfills. If this is the situation in the national capital, it’s needless to say what’s in every other part of India.
• Well managed drains besides the roads and not the roads which become worse than the drains. One pre-monsoon left top states like Gujarat, Maharashtra & Delhi shaking, and countless unnoticed incidents in every other part of India.
• Safe roads, bridges & tunnels which serve their purpose and don’t suddenly fall on the head, or get washed away by water, and occasionally when they do, someone is held accountable.
• Legal, authorised & well maintained buildings, airports & billboards without waiting for them to fall & kill dozens. Debating who built the roof of an international airport in some year in the past without taking the responsibility of its maintenance for 10 long years is pathetic & frustrating.
• Well managed & safe trains & train tracks so passengers don’t travel in toilets & don’t get killed for no fault of theirs.
• Rekindle the trust in top exams of this country. This is a no brainer & an extremely serious issue with potential ripple effects for both the candidates & image of the nation as a whole.
• Improved public healthcare so that Covid 2nd wave death spree doesn’t repeat in any circumstance.
• Food safety is a neglected area of improvement in this country putting millions on health risk everyday. Just this week, 5 children in an orphanage died due to food poisoning. How pathetic? How can we let God be so cruel to them?
• Polluted water & polluted air — How long will the debate about Delhi air pollution go on with no resolution? One can only imagine the rest of India.

The nation just spent a whopping 1.35 Trillion (Lakh Crore) Rupees of tax money on the election.

The useless debates in the parliament not touching any of these core issues is extremely frustrating for myself & millions of tax payers of this country.

There is so much to do & improve in this country. Last thing we want to hear is a gyaan on religion.