Modi is doing his bit. Are you?

Recently when the new government completed its first year, we all played teacher-teacher and sat in judgement over its performance. Newspapers and journals came out with their editions. We forget that changing things overnight is humanly impossible unless the change is negative. Growing a tree, needs years; no science can do it overnight; uprooting a gust. Tsunami and earthquakes convey the same.

Government needs two things - time and support.

No denying, it has its pet projects and peeves too. Projects include Swachh Bharat, Jan Dhan Yojana, renewables, Make in India, and of course the Smart Cities. Peeves are corruption, red tapism, gender bias, poverty and many more. Jan Dhan Yojana was like cutting the Gordian Knot of leaking subsidies.

Swachh Bharat is like growing green cover... Won't work out in a year and cannot ride on government shoulders ALONE. Needs immense support from the masses and the classes. We as a society are obsessed with looks and aesthetics. Sadly this fetish seems too selective. We fancy living in the poshest of localities, in the best designed houses. Our cars have to be the funkiest, family brides should the best looking females of the town. An accidental scratch on our cars and we can kill. And here comes the full stop. What doesn't belong to us (rather belongs to the government is not our concern) But still we do not stop rating it.

Roads are not our concerns nor is any other public property. Government will come and clean it. Sadar Bazaar on one end of Chelmsford and Lutyens' Delhi just a couple of kilometers down the road. The two juxtaposed offer the most conceivable antithesis. Introspect. We have failed as parents, educators and as society. Government is to be blamed but only as much.

Why does a country so obsessed with looks and aesthetics needs swachhta as abhiyan? Have you heard of Kapda Pahno Abhiyan, Khana Khaao Abhiyan? Ridiculous it sounds. Then why this Swachh Bharat Abhiyan? Do we need swachhta as abhiyan? We fail as parents when we don't tell our children what is expected out of them as civic citizens. How many times we have seen people tossing out empty plastic bottles from their cars. Almost daily.

Every time a global survey comes and we don't figure in top 100 or even 200... There is a huge hue and cry. We talk of chinks in our education system and gaps in skill development. All this happens at higher levels of education. Let's remember higher education makes professionals. Early education makes worthy citizens. We have failed in our ABCDs too. We have to instil the sense of possession and national honour to make our children civic.

If a policy is good, support it unconditionally. And see how things change for better. Besides teach your children ABCDs the right way. These include their civic responsibilities and integrity.