(This is the 13th and concluding piece in the series. Hope my esteemed readers would ponder over the points that I have highlighted and offer their valuable comments…)

UTOPIA IS an imaginary place under the Sun, which is supposed to be an ideal place to stay. It comprises people who treat each other with respect, the society is not riddled by corruption, and all those who are lucky to occupy a place in Utopia are healthy persons who have enough food to eat, adequate pollution free air to breathe, crystal clear rivers and lakes where they can spend their leisure time watching butterflies flit from flower to flower with the leaves rustling in the breeze and not be annoyed by plastic packets floating in the air and lodged in shrubs and branches of trees. Utopia has never experienced tragedies like the Bhopal Gas Tragedy or the Uphaar deaths due to fire or mass annihilation of people in the name of religion.

Let us demand Utopia as our Vision 2067. Imagination can become a reality. What is necessary is to have a dedicated and sincere approach by citizens to rid the society of the thousand and one evils by insisting on the authorities to perform their duties. The representation that the citizen gets in decision making bodies is nil for all practical purposes. In local bodies as in other areas of governance, members are elected in a so-called democratic process. But, the process is in itself faulty – any process ruled by fear cannot deliver results. And, in our system, there has to be various categories of reservations, which dilute the final outcome. No one wants dictatorship but, ultimately, that is what we get – the democratic process gives us dictators who rule through the clout they acquire via the double whammy of two MPs - ’muscle power’ and ’money power’. It is not new, it has become an integral part of the system and would not be easy to remove.

If we are to create pockets of miniature Utopia in our vicinities where women can move about freely, where one can get fresh farm produces, where criminals will not dare to enter the political arena, where the roads will be minus potholes, where there are no rash drivers, where courtesy prevails in all dealings, where pollution is nonexistent, where the greenery soothes the eyes, where one can be assured of uninterrupted supply of electricity, and drinking water we have to tackle the problems head on.

Through this forum, I have put forth my views over the past few days on 12 subjects that I have chosen to focus upon. There are many more. The lead taken by merinews.com in this aspect is worthy of emulation by others. Public awareness is necessary to bring about changes. The combined efforts of the common man can possibly shake the administrators and the government bodies out of their slumbers. The pen is said to be mightier than the sword - if we combine our might, we could make a difference.