Growing up in India has made one thing clear about the country and its people. The failures of this great nation that I love is the failure of its common man. Contrary to beliefs espoused in various media pinning the blame, after every tragedy, either to politicians or bureaucracy; I believe the prime reason behind the nation's chronic suffering is its vast majority of corrupt people.
It is unfortunate that I make this observation at a time when the nation is in the grips of unbound grief following the tragedy that struck the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand. Rampant proliferation of tour operators, hoteliers and other service providers colluded the carelessly orchestrated growth of tourism that found favor with the burgeoning mass who thronged the fragile ecology year after year to partake the annual pilgrimage. Sadly infrastructure and thoughtful tourism policy did not keep pace with the unregulated activity; with the net influence of each participant (operators, hoteliers, service providers, pilgrims and state government) having on the others producing an man made landscape disrespectful of the natural one. Commercialization, thus began without heeding to the cries of those who forewarned catastrophic consequences; and commercialization couldn't have succeeded without winning the favor of the pilgrims (public), a good number of whom could have been repeat tourists who knew the geography but didn't care for it. Likewise every participant to the commercialization story have acted on their own personal interests to maximize benefits from the trade; to the point where genuine interests had become indistinguishable from exploitation of the terrain. And I cannot imagine that those involved were all illiterates or unaware of the dangers involved. I can only imagine us being powerless before greed.
The destruction is likely to be on air on prime time for sometime; however I'm not sure we're going to be able to fix accountability here either. It's after all a natural calamity.
The real way forward lies in cleansing the individuals conscious from corruption, and make way for education received to take firm root.
It is unfortunate that I make this observation at a time when the nation is in the grips of unbound grief following the tragedy that struck the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand. Rampant proliferation of tour operators, hoteliers and other service providers colluded the carelessly orchestrated growth of tourism that found favor with the burgeoning mass who thronged the fragile ecology year after year to partake the annual pilgrimage. Sadly infrastructure and thoughtful tourism policy did not keep pace with the unregulated activity; with the net influence of each participant (operators, hoteliers, service providers, pilgrims and state government) having on the others producing an man made landscape disrespectful of the natural one. Commercialization, thus began without heeding to the cries of those who forewarned catastrophic consequences; and commercialization couldn't have succeeded without winning the favor of the pilgrims (public), a good number of whom could have been repeat tourists who knew the geography but didn't care for it. Likewise every participant to the commercialization story have acted on their own personal interests to maximize benefits from the trade; to the point where genuine interests had become indistinguishable from exploitation of the terrain. And I cannot imagine that those involved were all illiterates or unaware of the dangers involved. I can only imagine us being powerless before greed.
The destruction is likely to be on air on prime time for sometime; however I'm not sure we're going to be able to fix accountability here either. It's after all a natural calamity.
The real way forward lies in cleansing the individuals conscious from corruption, and make way for education received to take firm root.
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