To serve we need to have ownership.

An editorial in a newspaper admonishes against " The growing vigilantism of Indians." Recently there has been a spate of ordinary people attacking police or security officers as when a woman in Agra jumped on top of a politician's Mercedes when one of his security fellows winked at her. " While loudly proclaiming our democratic credentials, as proven by the rising voter turnout in various elections, we seem to have forgotten the duties that should go hand in hand with our rights," lectures the article. Trouble is that our journalists are used to writing sermons while seated in their air conditioned offices, so they have little understanding of how people think. Veteran journalist, Prannoy Roy had this to say recently," Indian media today lives and thrives in what I call a ' punishment-free ' environment. We can say what we like, defame whoever we like, make false accusations against whoever we like - and nothing happens to us." There is such an immense but suppressed public anger against civil servants, politicians and their children that Mr Modi can boast of being a bachelor with no children to leave black money to. With everyone owning cellphones with cameras instances of police brutality can be seen instantly online. The reason why a woman reacted violently to a policeman's demand for her original license and registration was because she knows the harassment she will have to face to get them back from the magistrate's court. People should be told to show their documents at their local police station where they can be scanned and sent to the traffic police. It will not cost anything and will enforce compliance even for vehicles from other states. Paying a bribe to a civil servant is punishable but a politician is set free if her disproportionate income is less than 10% of her total fortune. So, paying a bribe of Rs 1000 to get a water connection could land you in prison but if a politician has amassed Rs 100 billion then unaccounted wealth of up to Rs 10 billion is fine. Doctors are not allowed to take any gift from pharma companies but it is fine for civil servants to accept gifts of up to Rs 25,000, for anything more they have to take permission. To protect the crooks further the government intends to amend the Whistleblower Act so that no one will be allowed to disclose information protected under the Official Secrets Act. Only information available under the Right to Information Act maybe used. Who decides what is secret and what is not? Politicians and civil servants, of course. It is the good old Catch 22, with Indian characteristics. But, to make absolutely sure, that pesky citizens do not use RTI to ferret out the truth, the government has not appointed a Chief Information Commissioner in one year. With this ' us-versus-them ' mentality it is not vigilantism that we should be worrying about but armed insurrection. Duty is service. It comes with ownership. If we feel that the state is against us we cannot serve.