WHEN democracy is on a long vacation -- of full five years -- what happens is what is happening in Nagpur ! Long ago, the people have cast their votes to elect their representatives -- in the Parliament, in State Legislature, in Nagpur Municipal Corporation. That was a festival of democracy, the media had declared proudly. Then started the long vacation on which democracy has gone. So, the concept of good governance, too, has taken a very long (medical) leave. However, the administration is working overtime -- to mock at the common people’s convenience, to cock a snook at the idea of Bahujan Hitaaya (Welfare of the majority), to have a loud, jeering laugh when people languish due to administrative apathy and casualness.

 

What is visible is a clear attempt to trample democracy under political and administrative arrogance. How does democracy is said to be working ? Here are some markers: 1. People the stake-holders are participants in the process of choosing their own representatives to elective Houses; 2. People get opportunity to put their views and needs and wants before the larger society and the Government; 3. In other words, the people’s representatives listen to the woes and wants of their electors and put those across to the elective House in which they sit, and seek resolution of their issues; 4. People feel gratified that their views are respected and listened to and acted upon for improvement or correction; 5. The administration or bureaucracy realises that it is the collective servant of the people who are the sovereign in democracy. So, they serve their Sovereign MASTERS with polite commitment and sense of duty; The loosefooter is conscious of the acrimonious debate going on at the national level about democracy.

 

There are people -- in power -- who insist that democracy is very much alive in the  country. On the other side of the divide, there are people who believe that democracy has gone for a toss. Yet, at the local level, the loosefooter does not want to get dragged into a political slugfest. He has seen how democracy works at the grassroot level -- as a journalist of nearly sixty years of standing. Whenever the process of democracy appeared shrouded in clouds of indifference and incompetence, he has raised his voice of reason, asked serious questions, sought answers -- as part of his sacred duty as a journalist. Asking questions is his only tool -- allowed by the system. So, he uses that tool to raise the voice of reason. Personally, the loosefooter believes that in India, democracy is in safe hands. However, locally, there is little evidence that democracy is at work, at least in Nagpur.

 

For, over time, he has seen people’s woes and wants being ignored with impunity by whosoever -- in politics or in bureaucracy. Seen from that angle, this is how things are in Nagpur -- allowing us to raise questions about the very core of system called democracy. For, in Nagpur, cement roads are made over extended periods of time, causing much inconvenience to people, taking a lot of tax-paying people’s money. And in just a few months, many roads are subjected to massive digging -- for various reasons. For example, the newly-made Sahakar Nagar cement road is being dug up to lay storm-drain pipelines. For another example, the Sadar fly-over’s southern end is landing nowhere sensibly. So, a massive correction has to be undertaken -- at a huge cost -- of well over Rs. 100-plus crore. In the process, the designers have chosen to obliterate the serene beauty of the nearby Kasturchand Park. But why all this ? -- one may ask. The answer is simple: The original design of the fly-over is faulty. It was also said that the authorities had not acquired appropriate piece of land for the landing of the southern end of the fly-over. So, for a long while, the southern end of the bridge remained suspended in the air.

 

Then came the apology for correction. That ploy also failed miserably. So, the honourable Union Minister had to intervene to assert that a better correction will have to be made -- at a huge cost of several crores of rupee. So, the designers went back to their drawing boards and devised a correction -- by way of which a loop would have to be cut across the western part of the Kasturchand Park. Oh wow ! What a super-brain at work ! In other words, the city was faced with yet another design disaster (in addition to many others). The city has many such instances to quote to prove how democracy in Nagpur does not include the common people as stake-holders. For them, whatever the power-drunk people in leadership pyramid (in different segments) is the final word, no matter how messy it may be. Every common person in the city is harassed to the bone. He/she complains bitterly. He cribs and cries and feels frustrated. For, he realises he has nowhere to go. Is this how democracy functions ? But people in Nagpur know that democracy has gone on a long vacation. So, she is not available for any recourse or resort. Of course, the people of Nagpur have enough patience at their disposal. So, they have waited for well over a decade for some sense to get injected into the heads and hearts of those occupying rungs on the power-pyramid. How long will the wait go on ? Will the people have that much patience ? This is the only question in everybody’s mind. n