Positive change on Diwali

Diwali was celebrated all over the country with a lot of enthusiasm and fortunately no serious untoward incident took place as was made by the government of few so called developed countries. The people wished each other good luck on the auspicious occasion and prayed to the Almighty peace and prosperity to all on this beautiful planet earth. One important thing noticed by everyone this year was less use of the crackers. It was heartening to see that the children and adults alike expressed concern towards the ill effects of the crackers. Some people say that it was because of the high cost of the fire crackers which kept the people away from them but this does not seem to be the only reason. The awareness which was growing among the people has brought us to this happy situation. The government, schools and NGOs have been working towards this noble cause of educating the people for not burning the fire crackers. It has been reported that the pollution level after Diwali night has been almost fifty percent what it was last year. All concerned particularly the children deserve all appreciation for this and it gives us hope that the day is not far when the use of the crackers will reduce to almost zero level. It does not save the environment only but brings out the children who are used to make the fire crackers. To many of us this way seems to be the most appropriate of celebrating Diwali which lights the life of the unfortunate brothers and sisters of ours. It was not only in metros but in smaller cities also. The people spent more money on the items of the necessity than of the show off whether these are the vehicles, gold, silver or any other item and if we go back thirty forty years the same used to happen then also. It means we are in the process of understanding the ill effects of the wrong path taken by us which caused problems to all. The success of anti cracker movement has given hope that the society is receptive to the advice which improves the life of all in general. If the government acts sincerely then the people will respond accordingly. I salute the efforts of all concerned to have made the beginning of the change for the good.

Another issue which comes to mind is the pollution of the mind of the people which might cause more damage to the society than the environment or the sound pollution of the crackers. The government and the responsible citizens should fight against those sources also which are trying to pollute the mind of the people. There are many factors responsible for that but the media can play very important role in that as has been done for the campaign against the use of the crackers. The media, particularly the television channels, should not stretch the freedom of expression beyond the elastic limit. Though there are self regulatory norms but some people do not take them seriously and misuse the freedom given buy our constitution and the government. There are many serials and the programmes  telecast on some TV channels which do not give any positive input to the people rather make them to believe that good people are not in the winning race. You might have got a fare idea about the serial I am referring to. Though fortunately the same serial is being telecast at 10.30 PM but that also does not permit anyone to promote negative feelings and negative people. This serial is in the running of its fifth year and was not in any way appreciated by majority of the people before also but there seems to be a lot of money involved so it continues. Last time when one of the contestants was voted out (nobody knows who voted her out) one person asked the other one the reason of her being out from the contest whereas the other one who have been fighting and shouting in the house continues? The answer for the same was difficult but it made many people to think why was it so. Are there some genuine people voting to save someone not sending good message at all or this is the way of attracting the people to watch this serial for the sake of TRP and more revenue through advertisement?  The different episodes make us to believe that the ones who do not involve themselves in negatives will be voted out. If this is the result of real voting then the same is all the more dangerous. This serial should not be allowed to telecast the scenes which provoke fights and the abuses. The people who are using the words which are unparliamentry should be thrown out. The objective should not be only to earn money but everyone has responsibility towards the nation also. Two days back the kind of abuses which were being spoken so freely made us to hate the people who are trying to do almost the same damage to the society than the people selling adulterated food items which cause harm to the body. The government should not wait for the people to complain and then some action will be taken. We have full fledged Information and broadcasting ministry and the responsible people should give clear directions so that such things are stopped before they become a big nuisance. Though the timings of the serial are late but everybody knows that the children remain awake till midnight nowadays in most of the families. They have access to such serials either in the presence of the adults and most of the cases alone in their own room. Some people argue that those who do not like this they should not watch. This cannot be taken as argument because people do get carried away and are influenced by that. Something which is not good for the society should not be telecast. I agree that the media should not be gagged but then who will decide about good or bad? If everything done by everybody was good than we should not need police or the laws and the judiciary. There is no doubt that if you are exposed to something for long there will be serious effect of that on your body and the mind. The damage to the body can be controlled by the use of drugs but if the mind is polluted then it is difficult to cure that. The government, educational institutions and the NGOs should work together so that the menace of polluting the mind is reduced to the minimum as has been successfully done in case of fire crackers. We must remember that at the end the good thinking people only succeed and are happy. Happiness is good and good things do not come easily. At the same time if the inflow of the bad is controlled then the good would automatically come to the forefront.