We are a nation of vandals — wilful destroyers of what is beautiful or venerable. Be it painting love quotes on rocks, etching perverse rhymes on elevator doors, breaking art installations, slashing bus seats, stealing street lights or cutting fences on the new Mysuru-Bengaluru Expressway, we are constantly defacing, stealing or destroying public property.
Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha in a press meet yesterday urged the people not to burgle fences, anglers and bracings on Mysuru-Bengaluru Highway. He reminded the people that the fence was their property and had been installed for their own safety.
We are sure his request fell on deaf ears because just a few months ago, he requested the same of the public.
We destroy or vandalise anything good that is provided for us by our Government. This reminds us of what happened to India’s first high-speed semi-luxurious train Tejas Express.
This train that runs between Mumbai and Goa came equipped with LCD TVs, Wi-Fi, closed circuit cameras, bio-vacuum toilets and touchless water taps. But by the time the train reached the end of its maiden journey, which was just a few hours long, the LCD screens were dislodged and broken, headphones were stolen, toilets were not flushed and touchless taps were pulled out!
It seems the state of Indian trains reflects our perverse behaviour, more so in North India. The Railway Protection Force (RPF) arrested over 11 lakh people across the country in 2016 for stealing from trains!
The public finds a lot of things to steal from trains — from copper wires to iron bolts, from blankets to washbasins. The public did not even spare the ‘lota’— mug placed to wash one’s bum.
The Jabalpur Division of Western Central Railways in 2017 reported that it has lost 1,100 of the 1,800 ‘lotas’ it had provided in its trains’ lavatories in just two weeks!
Guess, a lot of people on the Jabalpur line desperately needed a bum splash, but what they actually need is a bum lash like Singapore gives its vandalising citizens or anyone who vandalises public property.
In 1994, an American student spray-painted public property in Singapore. He was caught and sentenced to 6 lashes. The then President of the USA Bill Clinton called the Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, to pardon him. Prime Minister Lee heeded to his request in such a manner that no President of the US will ever make such a request again. Lee Kuan simply reduced the number of lashes from 6 to 4. No wonder Singapore is Singapore.
There is a saying in Kannada “Mangana Kaiyalli Manikya Kotanthe” (It’s like giving monkey a precious stone). It means a monkey does not know the value of the gem. So yes, we Indians are like the proverbial monkey. We don’t know the value of the good things we have. Be it nature, our historic monuments, our public spaces or public property.
We, for some unknown reason, have the urge to destroy and disfigure property that is not ours.
We have picnics in parks and leave the winds to sweep the paper plates and napkins. Freshly-painted walls are overnight stuck with film posters and graffiti of political movements. We have the unrelenting urge to profess our love by defacing beautiful rock faces and heritage structures with white paint or chalk.
We have no love for our public property; we love only our private property. The only way to reduce this behaviour, and this crime is — punishment.
There are two ways to go about booking a person for the destruction of public property. The Police can use the high-penalty and stringent ‘Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984’ or the milder, Indian Penal Code, 1860.
Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984 says that, if a mob burns down a public property, the miscreants who commit the offence “shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than one year and can extend up to ten years.”
It further states that if the damaged public property is an installation related to the supply of water, power, public transport or telecommunication, then the miscreants “shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than six months and up to five years.”
Have any of us heard of such a punishment given to people who burn buses and cook on highways, destroying the road? No. That’s because we don’t have guts like Singapore. Our leaders are no Lee Kuan Yew. PM Modi may admire Lee Kuan Yew, but Yew he cannot be. We saw what happened when his party men looted our State. He turned into Mauna Mohan Singh, our former PM whom he used to mock for his silence. Let it be.
The Constitution of India, while guaranteeing its citizens certain Fundamental Rights, has also prescribed eleven Fundamental Duties. They are:
1. To abide by the Constitution and respect its ideal and institutions.
2. To cherish and follow the noble ideals which inspired our national struggle for freedom.
3. To uphold and protect the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India.
4. To defend the country and render national service when called upon to do so.
5. To promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of India transcending religious, linguistic, regional or sectional diversities.
6. To renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women.
7. To value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture.
8. To protect and improve the natural environment.
9. To develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform.
10. To safeguard public property and to abjure violence.
11. To strive towards excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activity so that the nation constantly rises to higher levels of endeavour and achievement.
While citizens are ‘morally obligated’ by the Constitution to perform these duties, these are “non-justiciable,” which means if someone does not perform these duties, he/she cannot be taken to Court. But it was assumed that all Indians love their nation and will do everything to protect it. But alas!
While we have forgotten our duties, we demand everything from the Government, and when the Government gives it, we break it. Our PM wants to ‘Make in India’ but first, let us use the law to stop the people who ‘Break in India.’
Maybe, instead of playing the National Anthem in movie theatres to evoke a sense of nationalism, the Government should read out our fundamental duties to evoke a sense of true patriotism.
e-mail: vikram@starofmysore.com
This post was published on June 3, 2023 7:10 pm