State of the Nation by H. K. Dua

Mr. H. K. Dua is a Member of Parliament – Rajya Sabha. He is one of the most senior journalists of the country and his journalism career spanned over four decades. He was invited to India International Centre to give a lecture on the current “State of the Nation” on the occasion of 10th Annual Sher-e-Punjab Maharaja Ranjit Singh Memorial Lecture.

He said, “Despite the communalism which divided us, India remained a plural society. Every page of our constitution says no one can rule over the other. Caste, creed or religion all are for unity of the nation and that’s why me made progress”. He also said that Jawarhlal used to talk about “Scientific Temper” due to which 30 science laboratories and Atomic Commissions were set up in 1948, within a year of India becoming free.

H K dua with his lecture

And now India is a nuclear power, and now we are orbiting Mars. He said that India have the third largest army and a powerful Navy. He seemed proud of the fact that Indians can look into the eyes of anyone and that India is being talked about as the emerging power of 21st century.

He gave due credit to the leaders who came to Parliament after Independence. He said “All of this is enabled by the vision and the pursuit of the vision by the leaders we had. We have to involve the nation in the pursuit of that vision”. After that he criticized the current state of affairs. He said, “Despite the fact that you are economically powerful, despite the fact that you have a powerful army, despite the fact that you can send people to Mars, I find there is considerable cynicism. And people have reasons to be. More than 20 million people live in unlivable conditions even after 67 years of Independence”.

The floor of the panel

He also articulated his concern over the recent turmoil in the government. He said that in the last few years, the Institutions of Governance “Have really declined”. “There is no idealism in the current lot of leaders”.

He said that everybody is after power and ironically they don’t know what to do with the power”. The leaders of the past to used power for the people. Now, irrespective of the party, “leaders want to use people for power”. And that is why the cynicism.

K S Bains was also present at the floor

He added to that, “Even if something good is done, people are doubtful. They perceive it to be bad, they say we are going to fall”. He then enquired, “Does the country needs this? There is so much self doubt in the country and with self doubt there cannot be sustained growth”.

He reminisced about his time saying, “At my time we reported great parliamentarians. People who used to analyze the Finance Bill as if a house wife organizes the Monthly budget. They used to make sure that every penny is spent properly. The parliamentary skills of those leaders were tremendous. They never robbed the parliamentof fruitful discussions, which often is the case today”.

V S Sahney and H S Nag

He was concerned about the state of the Parliament. He said, “Today, there is more adjournment than discussion in the parliament. The level has declined. The rulebook is thrown day in day out. You cannot run a parliamentary democracy without people adhering to those rules’.

He concluded by saying, “People have sacrificed a great deal to have an Independent Democratic India. There have been dark times and we have to realize that. People today are not realizing that. We cannot throw away our democracy which is our biggest asset”.