PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE (25th Mar 2010, 1830 Hrs)

The old saying is so apt, however, in our beautiful nation… we all tend to cure when everything become hopeless. There are two cases here that I am going to discuss – one is about my movement and the second is about our nation’s planning commission.

When I started the movement on 18^th of March, I had decided that for four days I will be walking on the streets collecting donation and contribution from every Indian that I meet. Little did I realize that the summer heat, four long hours of non-stop walking, hopping shop-to-shop holding the donation box and recuperating the lost energy… well, there are too many factors involved for a single man to do to achieve the unexpected. The first day taught me that my energy level had to be recharged after a long day in the hot sun… When I spoke to my friends, they all said in unison…Johnny you will have to look after your health first and don’t try to push too hard in the initial stages.

Point well taken and within couple of days I was recharged once again. So on 23^rd March, the second day on the streets began…however, the long day really seeped out all the energy that was left in me. The moment I came home, in chilled water I had to dip my feet to find solace… the night went like the Iodex ad… oh, aah, ouch… as every bit of my body was complaining of pain…even though I was dead tired… the spirit was soaring higher than ever and it is here I decided I will have to be cautious not to get sick and be on the bed for couple of weeks… henceforth, I will be on the streets one day and after two days, that means, three days in a week with two days for recuperating / recharging  hahahahahaa…. I know you all must be laughing but than “Prevention is better than cure.”

The second point is about how our planning commission has been working ever since the Independence. For them, cure only when everything becomes hopeless… Like our Agriculture Sector… for more than six and a half decades, we have not even bothered to provide the basic infrastructure for the No.1 sector (70 to 80 % depended on Agriculture in 1947) with the most essential Irrigation Facilities… what more can you ask or expect in this modern century? It is indeed a pity that farmers, who feed the nation toiling hard in hot sun and heavy rains, have always been neglected and even now… no one, I repeat, NO ONE is really bothered about them… So what if 200,000 farmers have committed suicide in 12 years (1997 to 2009)? So what if farmers are quitting farming? So what if farmers are selling their lands to the rich & famous for their lavish farmhouses? So what if farmers migrate to cities to become urbanites? So what if farmers are selling wives to feed their children? So what if there are no irrigation facilities for the farmers?

The cure will only start when in the next two or three decades, our children will grow and start killing each other to feed their children… today, it is the Bundelkhand farmers, who are selling wives to feed their children… my dear, tomorrow it will be our children, who will not hesitate to kill the other person to feed his children or maybe, like animals we will even kill our children to feed self… Dangerous and so deadly to think of such a ghastly future that our children are going to face… all because of improper planning… I wonder how these educated people have the nerve to overlook such a serious matter even today! I really don’t know how many farmers’ families I will be able to save with all the help to make them self-reliant but I know for sure one thing… Prevention is better than cure!