Permissiveness is a serious issue dogging governance in India. This is more so in states like Uttar Pradesh where lawlessness is at its worst. A report says the state has nearly 13 lakh licensed-gun holders. Pit this against the number of policemen in the state – less than two lakh.
In other words, in a critical situation, one cop is positioned to face an average of six gun-wielding men in the state. Little wonder, then, that the law order situation in Uttar Pradesh is going from bad to worse over the years.
Notable also is the fact that, in a juxtaposition, capital New Delhi has only less than 40,000 people with gun-licence, Mumbai and the whole of Maharashtra put together issued 85,000 licences, and the nation as a whole has given out 44 lakh licences.
This would be a serious issue in a nation such as the United States of America where there is a whole bunch of people who consider possessing a gun their fundamental right. But in a nation like India, where the average citizen tends to opt for illegal means to achieve what s/he desires, a powerful weapon in such hands could imply disaster for society.
Apart from this, it must be remembered that a licensed-gun holder may still be considered a law abiding citizen. The recent violence at Dera Sacha Sauda of Gurmeet Ram Rahim in Haryana and many other similar events in UP in recent times, probably prove that most people already possess unlicensed, illegal weapons which do not show up in the official tally.
While licensed weapons in large numbers could be a concern for many, the proliferation of illegal weapons should be a much greater worry, especially in current times when social upheavals are being politically and administratively manufactured for temporary benefits.
Uttar Pradesh, which boasts of being the nation’s most populous state, went through a division in 2000 in the hope that governance of the state would improve. The new Uttarakhand state, carved out of the northwestern districts of Uttar Pradesh seems to be less troubled.
The acute law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh as also the utter failure of all political outfits to tame and develop the state proves that it is a landmass with a mass of lawless people that is screaming for fragmentation and tighter administrative grip.
The present state of UP is definitely uncontrollable and this fact has been further strengthened with the high number of infant deaths as also increasing criminal activities that many are trying to brush under the carpet. UP is of great concern to the rest of the country today. The amount of national resources being spent in appeasing (for example in the recent farm loan waiver move) and controlling Uttar Pradesh is also harming the rest of the country.
Uttar Pradesh still carries weight as being politically the most powerful state with a population of over 20 crore, which sends in as high as 80 elected Members to the Lok Sabha. This is a figure about equal to that of Lok Sabha MPs from both Bihar and West Bengal.
Managing as high as 71 districts from the apex of Lucknow is proving to be increasingly difficult, and the problem is compounded by the mercurial nature of the state politics, where different political parties are playing a game of musical chairs for power.
Mayawati came as a relief from the hoodlum infested reign of Mulayam Singh Yadav, only to be replaced again by Mulayam’s son Akhilesh Yadav who in turn has been replaced by BJP’s Yogi Adityanath who wants to spend taxpayers’ money in celebrating Diwali with pomp and glory at government expense.
This one single act of Adityanath proves that while infants die in hospitals, his government is busy diverting citizens’ attention to non issues that will create religious fervour and may offer BJP political mileage.
It is sad that India, supposedly an emerging world economic power, has a whole lot of people who are stuck in a time warp, oblivious of necessities of modern day life. Proper education, healthcare, transportation and, above all, security and safety of the average citizen have all become irrelevant and unimportant issues that deserve no mention by important functionaries of the administration.
