Democracy in India Essays

Democracy in India Essays Democracy in India Essay Democracy in India Essay An era of change has begun. In 1950, a democratic government in India was formed. Democracy a form of government which is for the people, of the people and by the people. Democracy a form of government where the ultimate power resides with the people. Democracy a gift to our country. Most people reading this would by now have added another exclamation. Democracy – What a joke. In today’s day and time the idea of democracy is dead in the minds of the people. We have forgotten that the reason why the people in power are in power is because of us. We vote for them, and still cower in submission from them. Have we not realized that all the government employees, be it the top officer in the police or any politician, they are all â€Å"PUBLIC SERVANTS†? They are given these â€Å"lucrative† government posts to serve us. We the citizens, the active taxpayers, fund every government institution. It is with our hard earned money with which the roads are supposed to be built. So, if the money that is supposed to be used to build the roads is going elsewhere then, oh innocent taxpayer, you cannot shrug you shoulders when you read this in the morning paper saying â€Å"it’s not my problem†. It is your problem. It is more of your problem than of the poor contractor who commits the thievery, because it is you who is being swindled. Why is this mentality prevalent in our country? I just finished the internationally acclaimed â€Å"The White Tiger† and was disturbed at the cynical and dark outlook the writer had of Indian democracy. But then it struck me that most Indians do feel this way and it’s not some solitary case. Most of us feel that democracy is useless; only a fancy word for something that does not apply to our daily lives. Most of us feel that democracy is dead. But what we don’t realize is that a democracy is always constituted of its people and that until the idea of democracy is not revived in our minds our country will continue to see the dark side of the moon. Quite frankly, we ourselves are the reason that the progress of our country has stagnated. All we do is sit back, criticize and point fingers. But no one wants to pull this old cow called India by the leash and lead it to greener pastures. All we can do is sit on the cow’s back or hang by its tail like useless parasites screaming â€Å"I contribute to the national income!! † I believe I was a bit cynical there myself. Our country has the potential; we can reach new heights if everyone in this country feels the same. Politicians, doctors, lawyers, educationists, actors, even the person who lives under the Safdarjung flyover. I’m not asking you to leave everything and become social workers; I’m asking you to what you are supposed to do but please do it with a touch of honesty, with a social outlook to it and just by being a little selfless. According to me if we start to think about the welfare of this country, it will be much easier for us to realize this dream. One more thing I am a bit concerned about is the educational system of our country. Is our epistemological setup conducive for the creation of young leaders who can take this country forward? Or are we creating useless rote machines that can rattle chemical formulae at the drop of a hat? When I speak of the educational system I do not only mean the schools which are imparting such forms of â€Å"knowledge†, but most of us today believe that getting a 95% in our 12th boards is all we go to school for. Our parents, teachers, peers, everyone believes the same. It is bred into us and our puny little minds that education translates to a high percentage and nothing else. Even the whole system is to blame. We have to change this outlook to create new leaders; we have to redefine our sense on knowledge and our perception of an educated person. Only then will our system yield better, thinking citizens for this country. How is it that when we speak of reform, inevitably, the first groups of people that come to our minds are the politicians? Why not? † you might ask, â€Å"They are the people who are responsible for running the country, for serving us; as you mentioned. † Yes; correct you are. You have the right, as a citizen of this wonderful country; you can question them on any issue you want. But what I intend to say is that when will start to look at our responsibilities as an individual on the ground level? We cast millions of aspersions on the government about some or th e other thing the government is supposed to do but did not. When will we begin to reconcile ourselves to the fact that when we have the so called right to question the â€Å"public servants†, we also on the other hand have some duties to fulfill, to help them run the country. How many of us use the trash cans wherever available? How many of us have voted for the general elections this year? How many of us still use plastic bags? How many of us dutifully pay the taxes on time? We do have a list of endless rights, but do we all fulfill our duties? Time for some self-reflection, isn’t it, oh great â€Å"Janta-e-Hindustan†

Get Your Goat

Get Your Goat Get Your Goat Get Your Goat By Maeve Maddox Until a reader asked me about it, I hadn’t encountered the eggcorn â€Å"to get one’s goad.† eggcorn: the reshaping of a common word or expression in a way that makes sense to the speaker. The expression is â€Å"to get one’s goat† (not goad). The earliest documentation in the OED is dated 1910. In modern usage, the usual meaning is â€Å"to annoy,† â€Å"to make angry,† â€Å"to cause someone to display emotion.† Here are examples: After Ferrer took office, when opponents really wanted to get his goat, they taunted him as â€Å"Stanley Ferrer.† The name made him seethe. Extreme left liberals and ultra-right conservatives both  get his goat. What seems to get his goat the most is that the recession seems to have knocked away people’s interest in the environment. Maitreya is famous for having subdued his temper through learning ‘patience under insult.’ You simply can’t upset him. Insults, curses, even blows will not get his goat or shake his equanimity.   The origin of the expression is, as they say, â€Å"obscure.† Various creative explanations have been put forth, including one that suggests the expression derives from the practice of giving racehorses goats as companions to keep them calm. The convoluted reasoning is that if someone were to â€Å"get† the goat before a race, the horse would be too upset to run well. If the expression does in fact derive from some connection with the animal–and not from some forgotten slang meaning for the word goat–I think it may relate to one of several associations with goats that exist in our culture. I won’t go into all of them now, but one characteristic is liveliness. The wild playful way goats jump about with sudden leaps and turns gives us the words caprice and capricious. It’s not much of a stretch to associate â€Å"to get one’s goat† with this aspect of goat behavior. I once watched someone try to get her pet goat under control. She looked like someone trying to catch a grasshopper without a net. The expression â€Å"to get one’s goat† could have something to do with comparing the struggle to control turbulent emotions to the difficulty of trying to catch a goat. I have found a quotation that bears out this explanation. It predates the one in the OED. In this example, a union president is taken by surprise when presented with a beautiful commemorative gavel: At the last meeting of No. 16 ex-President Colbert proceeded to get the goat of President Knott. [] Mr. Knott was taken completely by surprise, and it was some moments before he could get his â€Å"goat† under control and thank the members of No. 16 for such a magnificent gift. –The Typographical Journal, Volume 35 (1909). Human beings want things to make sense. Speakers who replace goat with goad are making an interesting mental leap. A goad is a pointed object used to prod animals; ergo, a person prodded with a goad would become angry. Nevertheless, the idiom is â€Å"to get one’s goat.† Related post: The Sands and Hands of Time Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:50 Idioms About Legs, Feet, and ToesWhen to Form a Plural with an ApostropheSentence Adverbs