The top brass in the country’s Government at the Centre seems to be in an overdrive informing the citizens about the goals to be achieved while moving in the path of progress. The set of do’s and don’ts that they are required to follow without let up is coming in a cascade. The flag item in the syllabus as it were is focussed on keeping both living space and the environment in a clean state. In a way of walk-the-talk, the land’s masses have been, and are being exhorted not to defecate in the open, not to answer nature’s call in public spaces, not to litter in the streets, and to be wary of plastic in daily life. The plea could not have been made in more simple language, in any of the multitude of languages which are intelligible even to the unlettered sections in the land’s population. Even as the functionaries in the Governments of the nation’s States and Union Territories and the people at large are being called upon to co-operate in letter and spirit to achieve progress in a time-frame, one gets the gut feeling that the players in the game of progress also seem to be in an overdrive doing talk-the-walk, virtually in reverse gear, except in some pockets sticking to their duties and responsibilities.

The country’s rule by aliens for nearly four centuries notwithstanding, earlier generations have bequeathed to later generations all that have endured to this day, namely industrial infrastructure, Railway network, reservoirs, power-generation units, irrigation facilities, financial institutions, centres of learning and so on. The present generation owes both a debt of gratitude to them and also a duty to bequeath these edifices to future generations in good state.

Taking the erstwhile Princely State of Mysore (now Mysuru) for illustration purpose, the solid foundation laid for its all-around progress to become a welfare State, earning the distinction as the land’s model economy owed infinitely to both the rulers of the State and its elite galaxy of administrators, technocrats and the functionaries in the Government. All seemed well in the initial ten years or so after the State became part of the Democracy until the task of governing the State slipped into the hands of law-makers with poor credentials, elected as people’s representatives in the Legislature. The slide has perceptibly continued to this day as we find them indulging in exposing their unworthiness for public consumption.

In short, the current scenario of the honchos in the State Government, making public statements with promise of expediting a plethora of people-friendly projects such as building houses for the flood-ravaged people, revival of lakes, afforestation on a massive scale, creating efficient healthcare facilities and so on are adrift by miles even as they don’t walk-the-talk. Their claims to providing good governance are clearly talk-the-talk.