Essay on IF I WERE THE PRIME MINISTER

IF I WERE THE PRIME MINISTER

It is rather fantastic to fancy myself the Prime Minister of India. During the last two decades the post has been so much devalued that it does not stand one in good stead. The Emergency, Bofors scandal, bribery at high places and ultimately the Press Bill and Thakkar Commission Report episode form a cobweb around the personality of the Prime Minister. One would abhor the post itself. But it is these very things that prompt me at least to fancy myself to be an ideal Prime Minister of the country.

A country having near about 50% people below poverty line and an equal number of illiterate persons cannot afford to waste the money of poor people on extravaganzas like the Festival of India, Apna Utsav and the Asiad. A large number of people in government offices, mines and industries run in public sector are superfluous. I would stop further; in recruitment to these bodies. The money saved from these two sources will be spent on the problems of the people in the villages. Most of the villages have no drinking water. Most of the villagers have no land. They migrate to cities for jobs. The money would be spent on digging wells and on providing jobs to the rural people through cottage and small scale industries run by themselves in the rural areas. This will be my first priority.

My second priority as Prime Minister would be education. Boys and girls are the backbone of the society. They should be reared up properly. Most of the boys and girls in the rural areas grow illiterate. According to a UNESCO report 50 crores illiterate people would enter the 21st century in India. Most of the villages have no schools. Many have schools only in name. There are no buildings. If there are buildings there is no furniture, no blackboards. Sometimes there are no teachers. I will make best of my efforts to have a good primary school in every village of the country.

Morality and discipline are at low ebb throughout the country now a day. The result is what we see in politics. As a young Prime Minister I will exhort the young men to contain mafiaism and crush the antinational elements. Taking the youth into confidence I will start value based politics. My Lord! Will it be possible in a country where a strong nexus between the politician and the smuggler rules the roast? Will it tolerate me even for a single day?