"Ask any of the 20-odd Indian Air Force (IAF) test pilots who have flown the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) and they will all swear that it is a great fighter to fly. It handles beautifully, screams along at Mach 1.6 (2,000 kilometres per hour) and fires the full range of air-to-air and air-to-ground weaponry. With 2,000 test flights under its belt, it has already proven that it can fly and fight better than most fighters on the IAF inventory. It is vastly superior to the MiG-21, and is not too far behind the Mirage 2000.Yet the IAF is cool towards the Tejas. It is desperate for more fighters — against an assessed requirement of 42 fighter squadrons, the IAF has 34 squadrons today, which will fall to 26 in 2017 if the Rafale is not inducted by then. But the IAF chooses to live with this dangerous shortfall rather than inducting the Tejas more quickly. Just as the Heavy Vehicles Factory (HVF), Avadi, mismanaged by the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), causes the army to believe that the Arjun is unreliable; similarly Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), a public sector undertaking under the ministry of defence ( MoD), makes the IAF sceptical about the Tejas."
When will we Indians wake up from our abhorrent stupor? When will we learn to jettison our "Chalta Hai" attitude? The above article is yet another example of the bureaucracy keeping the nation to ransom, of the IAS lobby and inefficient babus ruining the nation. We have what is arguably one of the finest fighter aircraft in the world as an internal design - but are not manufacturing due to shoddy implementation. We are seeing this in every sector where the government is present; in education, in health... everywhere. Corruption and inefficiencies have rendered the system toothless and ineffective. And the rest of us are just ignoring this reality! Even now, when this is affecting the safety and security of our nation, I can hear only profound silence everywhere.... Chalta Hai, apparently
All it requires is for each one of us to demand the very best from the government, and not "make do". Nahi Chalta Hai, bhai... I am paying taxes, I am also giving the toll / fees / price (whatever) of the service, so kyun chalta hai? Why? Why should we accept it? Damnit, we are paying for it. We deserve the best since we are paying for it. Even if you dont care about your nation (which is a distinct possibility given that most of us haven't seen fit to do anything about this), you can at least care about your own hard-earned money!
Why is this absolutely ugly and pusillanimous acceptance of substandard services a feature of our lifestyle? Why the heck cant we be more demanding? Why should I have to put up with such nonsense, given that I am a law-abiding tax paying citizen? And yet, we accept it... chalta hai.... chalta hai... chalta hai... chalta hai... chalta hai... chalta hai...
Haan. Chalta hai. Aur chalta hai isiliye China ne band bajaa di thi 1962 mein. Phir ro karr kyaa faaydaa? Tab kyaa karr rahe the jab Armed Forces ki Band Baj rahi thi? Agar Chalta Hai, toh mere bhaiyya, us waqt kyun nahi chalta jab koi pandemic disease kaa outbreak hotaa hai? If it is all so acceptable, then why the screams when the Chinese whipped our backsides in 1962? Why the howls of anger during the Surat Plague? Why the protests on any number of issues that crop up? Why curse the government when the light fails? Why blame the government when the train runs late? Kyun? Nahi Chalta? Not acceptable? What were you doing when all this was happening? Could you not see the lack of preparation? The dirt and the lack of hygiene? Why weren't you demanding your elected representatives to rectify the power scenario? What were you as a citizen doing? Sleeping? If so, sorry to say - but then you deserve it. Aren't we guilty of double standards? Arent we guilty of not holding the Government and the bureaucracy accountable?
Remember: what goes around, comes around. This attitude is going to come back to haunt us one day... Wake up, India... wake up from your stupor and start asking some bloody tough questions to the good-for-nothing babus and the polticians...
Comments
Post a Comment