A country of rights, what about duties?

Unknown to us the Delhi High Court has passed an order upholding children's right to play and asking municipalities to provide playing grounds for children, but the Resident Welfare Associations are against such playgrounds. In order to stop children from playing most RWAs have planted shrubs or trees in the middle of lawns, making it impossible for children to play. One RWA has barred children above 10 years of age from playing in its park because a football hit an old person on the head, apparently causing a serious injury. As with everything in India the controversy arises because arguments are based on sentiment and not on logic. The problem is not with the children but with their parents. Land being extremely expensive apartments have been built with very little space in between. If children break a windowpane or the windscreen of a car their parents refuse to pay so residents stop children from playing. The easy solution is for parents to pay for large nets to enclose playing areas so that children can play without damaging people or property. But will they? No. They will claim that children have a right to play so someone else should pay. So then the question arises whose children are they? Most of these colonies are gated and the middle class has few children. It is possible that the children concerned are coming from slums outside. With crime rising in Delhi the real fear is that adults accompanying these children will use the opportunity to identify old people living alone and attack them later. No one will discuss the genuine fears of the residents, just use force to beat them into submission. Rights are distributed by politicians just like handouts. There is a right to food, right to education, right to free hospital care, right to housing, right to playgrounds, but no duties to earn those rights. Politicians dish out rights because the hapless taxpayer pays for it, because they have to justify their own rights to live like kings and because it is a cheap way of buying votes. But there is a heavy price to pay. All these rights are causing an explosion in population with increasing poverty and increasing crime. Unfortunately the same poor are demanding more than rights. They want jobs which will allow them to get out of poverty. In an article the Chief Minister of Rajasthan writes on how she is trying to reduce the cost of subsidies by targeting them to those who need them, so as to improve services. It is not going to be easy because the State Electricity Board alone has a debt of Rs 800 billion. To pay for handouts politicians are forever looking on how to increase taxes. Gambling is frowned on, so increase tax on betting at horse races. Easy money, right? People are betting of-course so that income of race clubs have fallen. Less income less taxes. When will these jackbooted commissars learn to respect us, the people? Stop rights, do your duties.