Saints Should Always be Judged Guilty Until they are Proved Innocent

Saints should always be judged guilty until they are proved innocent, is a famous line by George Orwell. The case can be applied to our current prime minister (who knows for how long), Manmohan Singh. He has been, from the beginning of his career at the UN, considered as a man of incredible intellect and a down to earth, no frills kind of person. People of such brilliance are inherently proud and shrewd, but such characteristics cannot be associated with Manmohan Singh. The question arises that how someone with so many things remain a saint? And have these properties led to his current situation of a lame duck prime minister?

A classical paradox emerges when we look at the above statements. How can a saint who is already down to earth fall down from a position of power. Let's look deep into the mind of our prime minister, maybe we can find answers to problems that the current government faces. Why Manmohan Singh failed as a leader? He had the basic ingredients of being a great man like intellectual prowess, power courtesy Sonia Gandhi, in a way she granted him prime ministership on a silver platter, and a nation which was egging to be directed in a direction of being a superpower.

Well it cannot be denied that this man gave India its growth story, an outlook of a country ready to take on the world. All that has gone to waste with situation of the world economy. Policy paralysis, bad governance and what not, Manmohan Singh government has an image of a cranky old lady who is out of her mind, in the minds of the people. Is Manmohan Singh done with the world or simply he does not care? Did he let people around him mislead him or he wasn't in the driver's seat at all? A study in blue it might be called in the future. What do people with power want? More power, is  the general theory but in this case it is not to be. Where has the power gone and how did it come to this? This can be considered as a classical case of how to lose power and that too immense power.

This can also become a study in black when you look into investigations in the Coal Scam. Did Manmohan Singh, in his prime become so lazy as not to check on what was being done by A. Raja or did the number one know what the number two was upto? Number always knows what number two is upto and it hasn't been proved otherwise anywhere in the world. If we study Manmohan Singh's characteristics then we get to know that the man so unpolitical and professional is not capable of doing a crime of this magnitude. Did the power corrupt him as it always does? Is there a dark side to an otherwise bright character or is it just a dark spot? Let's read the first line of this article once again.

Being Old in a Young Country

In India, we live in a country where 75% of our population is under 40 years old. We are a young country, full of youthful energy. But where does this leaves the 90 million strong (?) old population? The question mark that I have put is because of the obvious fact that the old are not strong and need all kinds of support. The main question is that are we, in our abilities and also the government in its abilities, providing the support and quality of support that needs to be provided to the elderly? The answer is a clear cut no. Time has come when we need to do some serious introspection and take this cause to another level.

The global scenario in case of the elderly is that all the developed nations have a fairly large number of elderly population. Japan is almost considered as a nation of the elderly. This is because of lowering birth rates, increased cost of living and government regulations in countries like China. As India moves towards the path of growth that will be driven by the youth that is existing in our country, are we virtually sitting on a time bomb of elderly population? What are we going to do when this young population grows old? Are we ready for the challenge and do we really care about our elderly?

It has been some time since we started moving towards nuclear families. This led to elderly living a more independent life. The rich gave their parents a new home to live in and the not so rich gave them the old age homes. To get into an emotional grind, the effect on the psyche of the old is not good. In the times of supporf they are left on their own. Some families care greatly about their parents and grandparents but the others just forget them in the chores of the busy day to day life. About 35% of the elderly population above the age of 80 is living alone according to the 2011 census data. It should be understood that living alone above the age of 80 is no easy task, mostly there is no work to do and there are ailments, diseases, doctors and hospitals. Along with these there is also loneliness to deal with. Statistics show that about 30% of the elderly population is employed. This helps in getting a living but does not helps in warding of loneliness.

Government has instituted measures to address the problems, but the implementation is almost nil. Number of elderly living below the poverty line has also been increasing steadily. There are a lot of yojnas to address this problem but there is no implementation. There is a great need for a public campaign to generate awareness on this sensitive issue. According to our traditions we have treated our parents as our gods. What changed this? Why have we come to this day when we have even stopped caring about them? There is a need for some serious introspection.