Lazy, lethargic, lax land

Just to keep the democracy of the country going, mostly as a show piece, public funds amounting to God-knows-how-many-thousand-crore rupees are blown away once in five years in the general elections to the Parliament as well as State Legislatures, apart from a few lakh smaller units of administration namely City Municipal Corporations, Town Municipalities and Gram Panchayats across the land. Each elected member of these bodies are to represent a certain number of people in their jurisdiction or constituency. A Member of Parliament represents 25 lakh people, a Member of the State Legislative Assembly about a tenth of that number and a member of a City Corporation such as MCC about 15,000 residents of the respective ward (MCC has 65 wards). Having taken a look at the anatomy of the make-up of democracy, one can take a pot shot at the profile of the elected members and the public perception of their style of functioning, thanks to the ever alert media.

First and foremost, although the membership of the foretold elected bodies amounts to more than an office of profit (given the enviable salaries periodically hiked unanimously and huge cash equivalent of the plethora of perks and privileges at their command), there is no stipulation relating to their credentials to qualify for the exalted position. Equally important point is that it is not compulsory for any member to work while holding the post, although members are expected or required to do some home work and come to office. Their laziness, lethargy, laxity have all official sanction.

Having endured for long the yawning gap between work and wages, people who constitute the country’s workforce in various sectors of the economy have been often raising the high-decible slogan equal wages for equal work while the gap is only widening. The often publicised figure of unemployed people in the country, thereby meaning they are idle 24×7 is an unmistakable measure of the nation’s laziness index. The rest of the population is wearing the badge of lethargy and laxity on their sleeves to varying extent. If anyone wants to personally experience these features, one has to only visit any government office or site of civil works involving road construction with public funds. In a certain sense, equal work is already getting them equal wages. Mercifully, some work is being done by babudom and labour class.

A recent study by a Stanford University research team covering 46 countries of the world and taking the number of steps for walking as a parameter of work has revealed that Indians figure among the laziest in the world. It is anybody’s guess on the rank India or Indians would achieve if a set of other parameters of work were included in the study. The nation is grateful to the rest of the masses who are at work in every sense of the term.