Response to terror: Are mass protests and online petitions enough?

The public response to the Mumbai "mayhem" has been typical. We held demonstrations, burnt effigies of politicians, shouted slogans against them and went home. On the Internet we wrote blogs demanding answers from the government, floated public petitions and forwarded angry emails. Haven't we always done this? How well has it served us so far? This is just a knee-jerk response, which is going to fade out, and eventually the "chalta hai" attitude is going to take over. This may sound pessimistic but this is the way it has always been. The question we need to ask ourselves is how else are we going to deal with this? We can't change the hand we are dealt; all we can do is make the most of it.

Over the past few years the Indian economy has been vibrant and robust. This is heartening not only because the GDP growth rate has been very healthy but more importantly because most of this growth has been fueled by the growing middle-class. The government hasn't done anything out of the ordinary as far as policies are concerned; all they have done is not interfere with the corporate world. The people of India have taken it upon themselves to drive the economy. One can only hope that this attitude that has driven the economy drives the politics as well. As the middle-class grows accountability should spread from the corporate world into governance.

We blame the politicians for not being responsive but didn't we always know that these incompetent, irresponsible buffoons aren't going to do anything? Don't we always vote for the candidate who we think can do the least damage? It's like choosing the tallest among the seven dwarfs. We all know that the current crop of politicians is lame, so it is basically up to us to act. Writing letters or submitting petitions to bureaucrats and elected officials hasn't got us the desired result thus far and it is very unlikely that it ever will. The underlying assumption with this modus operandi is that the readers actually care, but we have ample proof that this may not necessarily be the case. Even if some of them do care, given the size of the government and the number of contradicting functions it has to carry out, by the time they get something accomplished it might be too late.

Moving forward the first thing we need to do is be responsible voters and make sure that we elect candidates who can do the least harm. After the parliament attacks we thought that the then-incumbent home minister was bad but his successor epitomized incompetence. We should also start cooperative movements that would provide a support system in the event of a crisis. As a friend pointed out "Teevra Chaukas" is the motto of the Corps of Signals of the Indian Army. It should not be restricted to just them but it should be the motto of every citizen. If all of us are socially aware and vigilant our vast population can be an asset and not a liability. One of the reasons why cooperative movements have succeeded in the past is that they have minimum government involvement and dependency. If we are to pull through such crises self-reliance, cooperation, social and religious tolerance is of paramount importance.

Please don't get me wrong; I am not trying to discourage mass demonstrations or online petitions. They serve the purpose of raising public awareness and attempt at inculcating accountability in the government. All I am saying is that we must also explore an alternative path which is more proactive and therefore more likely to yield the desired results.

Note: These are the views of a novice trying to come to terms with all that has happened. Please take them with a pinch of salt. Comments and opinions are very welcome.