A Fashion Designer by education Smt Manan Chaturvedi from Jaipur has adopted 102 infants abandoned by their parents. She looks after them as her own kids. By forming Surman Sansthan she is busy in reshaping the future of the abandoned children for the last 17 years. What makes her different from other such projects is that she neither takes any financial support from the Government nor allows anyone to adopt ‘her kids’
The word ‘Republic’ has been explained in simpler terms by many eminent personalities time and again. The popular definition ‘By the people, for the People, of the People’ is one among those definitions. But the big question is whether we have been able to infuse the feeling of Republic among the citizens in the simpler manner in which the Bharateeya democratic administrative system is normally explained. Whether the common man of the Republic truly feels the ‘Republic’ in the daily life? Whether the politicians and the bureaucrats who are enjoying fruits of power since decades, have been able to make people sure that they and the entire administrative machinery is basically for their betterment and to ensure their involvement in policy formulation? The answer is perhaps no!
We can see crowd of people around us having no self-respect. They do not have the confidence that they can change the picture or they are the real changemaker. It has been witnessed during the last few years that the movements or agitations launched to eradicate untouchability or to restore equality in the society turned violent and claimed the lives of many innocent people. Undoubtedly, it is a challenge to manage the nation with 125 crore people. But this is also equally important to note that Bharat is not united because of the government. This unity is because of the deep-rooted spirituality and the feeling of nationalism deeply rooted in the hearts and psyche of the people since ages.
The nation realised its internal strength during the Freedom Movement. But unfortunately the country could not see any government after Independence which could truly run the Republic respecting that internal consciousness and spirituality. We lost our glory while blindly aping the foreign countries especially the West. Not only this, we played a dirty game with the future of the nation by moulding the education system which led our children to selfishness and disconnected them from their roots, values and the rich traditions. The insensitive administration only added fuel to this fire. However, some efforts have been made on the part of some voluntary organisations to change the picture. The impact of those efforts is also visible in some pockets of the country.
The Way Ahead
Now need of the hour is that we the society and the Government should collectively build a system, which not only helps our future generations to have a glorious feeling towards our culture and our cultural values but also every mother should act as a Sanskar Kendra. I firmly believe that people keep a distance even from the cub of a lioness, whereas a kitten is easily hunted. The shameful incidents like that of Damini will continue to occur until the women in the society remind their children the values and respect towards others. If we fail to do it the countrymen will only see a strong and powerful republic only in dreams, not in reality. It is the responsibility of all to think in unison, act in unison and generate self-confidence in each other to excel in every sphere of life. Manan Chaturvedi
