Common man - only in the cartoon ?

India Inc is probably the most used word in today's media. India is happening and developing at such a rate that the world is noticing it.As a proud Indian ( you could read that as patriotic also, not in the real sense of freedom struggle patriotism though),it makes me happy. Yet,I keep questioning myself, 'Why is life a struggle for the common man even today in India ?'

The word 'Common man' penned after RKL's famous cartoon series has become an entity, unwanted by India Inc. After a month of staying away from home, my powers of observation of my surroundings has suddenly increased by a factor of 20. What was earlier just a passing glance at an overflowing corporation garbage bin,today is a point of observation. A long queue in a government office which was an expected thing yesterday and hence did not require any intellectual interference,today is a mental excersise. Many such examples and am convinced that the 'common man' of India is slowly losing his peace. His life is still a struggle.

The world's biggest democracy, the most emerging market today, yet reports people dying of starvation in Bihar,of farmers commiting suicides in Andra,of floods taking lives in Orissa,of shortage of food, lack of basic education, health,terrorist attacks in parks and gardens,the list goes on...

While the rupee is gaining strength against the dollar and software exports increasing exponentially sound promising,tomatoes at Rs 20 a kg ,meat at Rs 200+ and toor dal at Rs 50+ is definitely not a good sign of internal progress. The former shows how happy 'India's new rich' are ( are they really ?) while the latter concludes that 'Common man' still has a daily struggle to survive.Well,one thing leads to another and there can be scores of peripheral effects of basic infrastructure this country claims to its credit,some good some bad but the one thing that is certain is the difficult state of the ordinary folks of this vast country.

I'm no authority on this country's administration,but I strongly feel that what India needs today is a complete makeover of its socio-econimical structure. Human life, for starters ? We must learn to make a big deal for every life that breathes here, no we don't do that! We Indians don't value 'quality of life'. Also,death is a common occurance and it does not need so much thought is what every system here thinks. No wonder we have blasts every 6 months across the country, so many accidents, lives lost in calamities and alike, people dying of hunger, neglected medical aid,etc.
Only when we realize that life is more important, shall we then come up with systems and subsystems that will try to safeguard and preserve every one of us. Only then shall we think about farmers,teachers, doctors, etc and not just about software engineers..

I would like to see RKL's 'Common Man' as happy too...