Discussion Contest- Banning V.VIP culture- Is it possible?

VVIP culture has its roots in the British Raj. It was the time when the government officers were their own God. The bureaucrats in British Raj were the ones who enjoyed maximum benefits in terms of money and power as well. This is the reason government jobs like IAS have been luring a lot of individuals even today. But what the youth fail to realise that the times have now changed. Bureaucrats and other government officials are certainly getting good perks and powers but those cannot be compared with the pre-independence era of India. Things are slowly changing for the good and even a common man can have his say in case of any injustice done to him. This is a good sign for Indian democracy. VVIP culture is going away slowly for the good.

Sycophancy which actually is the root cause for such VVIP culture is present all over the world in varying degrees. In countries like UK it does not touch the common man because the Royalty and their functions are kept at a different level altogether and as far as governance is concerned , the elected representative lead very normal lives, mingling with everyone. When we lived in England, my husband had his office right opposite the functioning Parliament house on the opposite side and John Majors the then Prime Minister and other ministers from his cabinet , all came to a food court to have their lunch . The first time I saw them standing in the que along with us , I was pleasantly surprised.

The problem arises when the VVIP culture threatens to harm the society to an extent where it makes the lives of common people miserable like it happens in most of the developing countries like India. There are probably valid reasons for such occurrences , however ,  no reason is sufficient enough to cause misery to the people of a nation simply because some people tend to think that they are more previleged..

The VVIP culture has its roots back to the era when India was ruled by kings and princes and it was a given that the rulers always are at a higher station above the commoners. The British also enjoyed the benefits of higher posts and expected to be served all the time by their servants but only so long as they held the position. Even the viceroys of the British India were known to carry their own luggage once they went back to England. but not so for the Indians themselves. Once a ruler, always a ruler. Hence the presidents and other ministers, even the Gandhis who no longer have a single administrative or political position in the ruling, live in a mansion fit for gods, all expenses paid by the taxpayers' money. It is not impossible to change this, but it is indeed hard as the mindset of many is still a bit backward.

But the younger generations, exposed to the global culture now, is no longer as gullible as our earlier generations were. If we all were to act unitedly, this culture of VVIP monstrosity can indeed be changed.

In the past since the kings and queens who ruled different kingdoms in India were mostly autocratic, they were highly revered by the commoners and treated in a special manner. Moreover, the caste system was highly prevalent in most of the Indian societies. So, the mentally of treating some group of people as superior and allowing them certain privileges has already been instilled in them. So when British started the VIP cultures during their rule, people accepted it and continued the culture even after they have left. Even now the mentality most of the Indians has not changed much and we can still observe it in one form or the other.

VVIP culture has it's root back in the autocratic rules of Kings and Queens. The hierarchy in society was based on discriminations. The British kept the culture alive and even promoted it for their personal benefits. While they could enjoy the status of a ruler and had upper hand, it also helped them to strengthen their policy of Divide and rule. 

Now when the country is independent for last 7 decades, VVIP culture still persists demarking a gap between the ruled and the rulers. It is a shame on a democratic country. It is deep rooted in the mindset of indIan people and is somewhat imprinted in our genes. It needs some firm rules to set it right.

It is not banned in India.. People here still have an attitude and treat others like nothing. Most of the politicians do have this attitude. Their status can easily be seen when they pass through the road and you can see roads being blocked and they are the first to pass by. That hurts. But thats improving with the time now people know and don't care who is going unlike in the past when they used to stand for an hour just to have a glimpse of  vvips. 

Undoubtedly, the VVIP culture should be banned. Now the point is, those who enjoy a post and position must himself /herself forsake the VVIP treatment that they receive from general people. They need to understand that they are equals and not Godfathers/Godmothers. Being in politics or preferring to join government jobs is simply their chosen career and they are not Godsend. In India, it is my baap culture so the lesser privileged ones allow the privileged ones to throw tantrums, accept their misbehaviour, tolerate the undue advantage they take. Such a culture was wrong and still happens to be a very wrong attitude so this is highly unacceptable. It sends out a wrong message but the VVIP culture still continues to rule India because of lack of education, 

Dear Members- May I bring to your kind notice that VVIPs take advantage by way of living in posh residences, refurnishing, rebuilding or redesigning the entire buildings according to their choice or spend tons of monies on traveling, phones and hiring unnecessary staff etc all at the cost of exchequer that ultimate comes from taxpayers' pockets. 

India is a country which is driven by power and money. I have seen people who have power and money, slapping police officer and he could not do anything. Almost every Individual in our country wants to get to that place where he can exercise his judgement over other people. As the topic of this discussion or debate goes -- is it possible to ban VVIP culture? I don't think so because the majority of the people will want that this culture continues so that they can spend their life like a Babu. Even though the common man is against the VVIP culture, if he gets a chance to sit on back of horse called "VVIP culture" he will misuse his power and become one of those "VVIP" regarding whom we are having a debate now. I would like to remind you all of Mr Arvind Kejriwal. When he started "Jan Lokpal Aandolan" I was in my hometown that time. He promised to end all VVIP culture, even I was so influenced by his words that I thought that bad days of India will come to end now and India will rise again. Even I was really motivated by his speech that I was ready to give my 100% support and contribution to the cause he was standing for. But what happened after he won elections is not hidden from anyone. After he became CM he used to make frequent travels in India and abroad in name of "official travel". One of the ministers in his party misused the designation of MP and took his pregnant wife to USA when she was just about to deliver child. He did this just to get citizenship of USA because the child born is dependent on his parents. Generally visa official will not allow pregnant women to travel but he misused his power for personal gain. So do you think when majority of population of India supports this culture it is possible to ban VVIP culture? I don't think so.

VVIP culture in India can be certainly banned, it will be a lot difficult to do so but not entirely impossible. The very hazard of the VVIP culture is that the people who are accorded the VVIP status begin to think of themselves as autocrats and think that every privilege granted to them, paid for by taxpayers' money is rightfully theirs. That is why we see, from time to time, controversies arising such as Pratibha Patil demanding property belonging to the army to be given to her bungalow after retirement or the arrogant and class one goonda like Akhilesh Yadav destroying a huge, expensive bungalow out of spite just because the court asked him to vacate it as he no longer holds official post. These acts go unpunished solely because commoin people do not take much interest in politics. If all were to stand united and file petitions etc. and keep following up, the VVIP culture could easily be brought into a certain discipline and the officials could be held accountable for. Modi, for now, has at least initiated in the same direction by banning VVIP lamps on official cars. Slowly, I guess, more and more rule can be brought in and phasing it out completely.

VVIP culture can be found in all realms of life. One can see it even among animals where it is simple power domination. The more powerful the more feared you are , is the jungle rule. 

When we look around , we see this happening within families, communities and institutions. Some are always more powerful than others and are able to get more favors. I have seen it even at lower levels in offices where one of the peons is given more importance because he has learnt the art of being amicable and convincing his higher ups. Similarly, it reaches a totally different level altogether when it is in the case of rulers and celebrities since they are able to attract the masses. To a large extent we have to blame the society itself for putting up and nurturing this culture.

Bane of VIP culture is not so easy as you, Kalyani, write here. I read biography of Mahatma Gandhi, experience with truth, in it he write that how people of congress behave like a VIP. Here many leader are demanding security and many commondo deputed for the security of his and his family, it is all for VIP status. I am writing here one instance of  hunger of VIP Status. Few years ago Kiran Bedi, well Know IAS officer posted at Chandigarh  DIG. She withdraw security of leader and said that Chandigarh police can secure them. After few days she was transferred from Chandigarh.

We see VIP cultures in many forms. One of the most highlighted case took place last year in which Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad used his slipper to hit an employee of Air India just because he was not provided with certain privileges he was used to. What was shocking was that he had the nerve to boast about it later. Like wise, there are many other cases where so called big shots or relatives of such big shots throw tantrums or cause crime and get away with it, knowing that the people will look other way as they belong to the privileged group. Like wise, anyone who has achieved certain position in the society likes to have lots of retinue following them everywhere.

Born to an affluent family in India makes you a well deserved candidate for VVIP treatment. The mindset is so deep rooted. If you are born in a certain family, you feel that you are destined to be on the top without any personal talent and grooming. Our leader of opposition, Mr, Rahul Gandhi feels that he is privileged citizen of India because he is born to a particular family. He even had the audacity to say it in a foreign land that India runs on dynasty. That was a shame. I have heard many youngsters supporting Rahul that why would one sell tea if members of his family have been PM of the country. I feel that this mindset will need a lot of time to be totally eradicated and till then VVIP culture will prevail in some or the other form. 

In the name of security, the political leaders in India enjoy VVIP culture. It becomes terrible for the common men. It's an idea which is taken for granted that general people cannot have an important work to do, they can't have an emergency, no commoner can fall sick and so on. It is ridiculous that general citizens face a lot of trouble only because of a political leader or any other big shot would be taking the same route while going to their destination. Due to such practice, someone may miss a job interview, a baby may take birth on a pavement, a serious patient may succumb to an ailment and a much more awkward situation may arise but still, there is no change. The worst part is, the media remains silent. They write about the harsh realities but no campaign takes place against the VVIP culture.        

I hope you all would have visited old temples such as Jyotirlinga temple where lakhs of people visit on daily basis. How bad it feels when we stand for 3-4 hours waiting for your turn to visit the temple for worship and your turn further gets delayed just because some VVIP is there to visit the temple. In case some VVIP is visiting a temple, it becomes very unfortunate thing for people standing in the queue because the police will stop the queue from moving ahead so that VVIP person does not have to wait and no one pays important to the common people like us even if you are standing in queue for 3-4 hours or even if you are having fever. For VVIP people they also open special gate of temple so that he can sit down and worship for another half hour to one hour where as if you are a common man once you are in front of the idol, the security people will not even allow you to fold your hands and pray but they will push you back ruthlessly without caring if you fall down or not. I witnessed such thing in Shirdi temple and Bhimashankar temple in Maharashtra. Even we common people are spending our hard earned money to visit that temple and even our time has value as we also have families then why this partiality ? Even to worship God why to differentiate between VVIP and common people? While I feel bad the VVIP people will surely be enjoying the attention they get from people. I don't think it is easy to ban VVIP culture.

It is situation is all temple and holy place of country. Even in sample rates are fixed for visits. You can visit and worship as per your paying capacity. Beside temple it is also situation in hospitals. What is happen with a common person is hospitals it is news of every day. Doctors and other staff are much crude for common persons. If a VVIP person have some minor health problem, hospital admin depute a full team of doctors with is minutes. Investigation which are dream for common peoples are easily available to VVIP with charging a single rupees. 

Politicians , Celebrities , Industrialists and the creamy layer of the society is given to think that they are a cut above the rest. Their children and relatives further carry on with this culture thereby creating a class that is many a times beyond the reach of law and law makers , like we saw in the case of Salman Khan and many other politicians who get away with every kind of criminal activity. They use their clout for all the wrong reasons rather than use it for the reason why they are given power and position. This is more so in the case of political class.

We have the celebrities misusing the opportunity given to them like Sachin Tendulkar and Actress Rekha did by hardly attending any parliament sessions while making use of all the benefits. The money that was given as part of yearly grant meant for the benefit of people was unspent and probably now vanished into thin air. But are there any laws and procedures to make them accountable for being a drain on tax payers ? None at all...so we need to introspect and see why this is happening? When a common man is held accountable for every rupee he earns and spends , why not these VVIP s?

VVIP culture has been a part of many countries in old days. It was there in India since ages when society was divided into different sects based on their birth to a caste or sect and all your economic and socio-political condition was determined from your birth. Different caste did different job and there was a clear discrimination. 

But once it is a democratic country which discourages any discrimination...VVIP culture should not exist. Our constitution gives equal rights and responsibilities to all citizens and all need to be treated equal and well. 

VVIP culture also ensures that corruption prevails. Those affluent and powerful can buy everything.

One of the obvious way the so called elite group resort to VVIP culture is being surrounded by lots and lots of guards. Whether they genuinely needs protection or not, having so many protection groups and other retinue at their disposal get them the VIP treatments from others. The services of many of the policemen are being wasted guarding them. It is said that at present nearly 475 individuals in India are availing the services of special protection group of varying degrees. The annual budget allocated for SPG for current financial year is 385 crore. When politicians and other celebrities avail their protection just for status symbol, they are wasting taxpayer's money.