Political Diary

New Delhi,6 January 2026

Rot And Stain

PAN-INDIA APATHY

By Poonam I Kaushish

“Complain to Administration. What Administration? They are corrupt, we pay them. We, are the Administration.” The chilling harsh reality of Mera Bharat Mahan!

Be it Capital Delhi, Indore, Gandhinagar, Bengaluru or Goa, the story is the same: human carelessness. A tell-tale of total apathy, insensitive Administrations under various State Governments. Of rulers who ignore experts who in turn, blame it on lessons not learnt by successive Governments. Big deal, if these “mistakes” extract a heavy toll of human life. After all, aam aadmi is just a statistic in Government records. 

In Delhi’s Laxmi Nagar a man is thrashed, his wife pulled by her hair, hit in the face, kicked and molested, their son stripped naked and beaten with iron rods by four men outside their house as policemen watched. Their crime? Asking their gym caretaker to vacate the premises, yesterday. 

In Noida, a woman kills her live-in partner. In Bhiwani a social media influencer confesses to choking her husband to death with her dupatta along-with her boyfriend. In Hampi two women are raped and three men thrown into a canal. An 80-year-old grandpa rapes a five-year-old. So, what’s the issue? 

Stray incidents? No. Graze a car? You can be shot dead. Nobody sees red at the sight of blood. Even if some is spilled in an over-populated nation, what difference does it make? In Delhi gang wars are passé. The dichotomy? Gangs are operating from jails? Are jail authorities hand-in-glove? Why is no action being taken?

New Year started on a somber note in India’s cleanest city Indore where 15 people died and over 200 are hospitalized after drinking contaminated water. Thanks, to mixing of sewage with drinking water. Residents’ complaints of dirty water over two months fell on deaf ears, as always, till calamity struck.

Worse, the Administration ignored a Jal Jeevan Mission recent assessment that 36.7% of drinking water specially in rural areas was not potable. As it had 2019 CAG report highlighting water contamination in Bhopal and Indore wherein between 2013-18 4,481 water samples were found unfit for drinking and 5.45 lakh  cases of waterborne diseases were reported, but as always, it was dumped in raddi. 

The story is par on course in Gandhinagar and Bengaluru as they too grapple with sewage-contaminated drinking water. Over 76 typhoid cases are reported from the former while latter’s residents report widespread diarrhea, foul-smelling frothy water with thick layers of dark sewage silt. 

In Delhi 18% of 15,600 kms water supply network is over three decades old avers Delhi Jal Board. A tragedy waiting to happen. Just like the recent fire in a Goa nightclub. Or the brutal killing of a sarpanch in Punjab’s village.  

Questionably, why does Government react only when tragedy strikes? Isn’t it the Administrators job to ensure clean water and hygienic environment to live? What do we pay taxes for? Certainly, not for advertisements, statues of our narcissist leaders. Who will be held accountable and which head will roll? None. 

After all, politicians, bureaucracy and police are three sides of a triangle. All viewed as venal and incompetent. Criminals in khadi hustling and muscling to fulfil people’s aspirations. Who now have taken recourse to “out of court settlements” and extortions. 

But invariably, a businessman is arrested. Why not the bureaucrat or Administration which gives permission for irregularities by taking bribes? Are they not more answerable? And should they too be not put behind bars? Alas, they go scot free .Simply because, Babus clan up together. A classic case of pot calling the kettle black.   

Bluntly, everything is kaam chalao! Exacerbated by infrastructure neglect, unregulated construction and free-for-all development with authorities failing to implement crucial preventive measures, resulting in essential tasks like lack of preventive maintenance leading to clogged drainage systems and obstructed natural water flow channels. 

The way indiscriminate urbanisation is happening, no politician, Party or Administration is willing to stop it. Forgetting, indiscriminate urbanisation will bring similar incidents in new forms. Whereby, we are creating a cocoon around ourselves that one day we will die like silkworms. 

Predictably, politicians cursorily go through the ritual political circus: lament crisis, visit places to assess damage, set-up crisis management teams, suspend official till the story ‘dies’ and vouch help to people. Patting themselves satisfied that they have done their bit. 

Focus is more on emergency response than preventing disasters and short-term development goals over long-term public safety. There is no routine maintenance and infrastructure investment. This reactive approach eventually leads to higher loss of lives and property due to lack of institutional preparedness and inefficiencies. 

Consequently, we stare at rot and stain of pan-India apathy and a public health crisis: disease outbreaks, existing environmental degradation, urban decay and proliferating of slums. The administrative system has practically collapsed. A life-style of Nano Yuppiesim has brought forth macro consequences of socio-political environment neglect. Where, another crisis threatens.

The truth? Even as we have achieved political and economic freedom we still remain hostage to errant elements of society. Which speaks volumes about growing societal acceptability of the idea of instant justice.

One could argue this is because of our failed criminal justice system and police high-handedness whereby methods being used to terrorise people have been perfected. Whereby, judicial procedures to check legitimacy and validity of Government functioning and officials has become a victim of prejudices against citizens.

While courts revel in non-deliverance of speedy justice. Instead, they appear keener to protect the rights of authorities who subvert the law than perform their job of legal oversight. As a consequence, hapless citizens are crushed by procedural injustice.

Perhaps, one of the main reasons for people taking law into their own hands is because courts only act as meek protesters at best and mute spectators at worst. Resulting in lawlessness being exacerbated manifold wherein legal falsehoods and subversion of due procedure are considered par on course.

Where does India go from here? In an environment wherein adoption of strong-arm tactics to extract one’s pound of flesh has become second nature, it’s time to cry halt to increasing degradation and realise good governance and accountability is hallmark of a Government. Our polity needs to pull up their bootstraps and focus on long-term not short-term planning.

We need to break free from this trance of dark carnival through collective resistance. Non-governance, lackadaisical approach alongside a ki pharak painda hai attitude is unacceptable. Stringent and timely action is vital. Life is not collating numbers, but flesh and blood with beating hearts. Can we just let them bleed?

Remember Aldous Huxley words: Men do not learn from lessons of history which is the most important of lessons of history. Else history will repeat as farce! ----- INFA

(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)