It is invisible because there is no awareness, otherwise the present India is rugged. That is why every day of India is a day of rugged stories. And there is not just one story in a day, but innumerable stories. Nothing is smooth in India’s land, India’s geography, India’s climate, and the daily life of humans. Everything is rough, uneven and due to plunder. Naturally, every aspect of human life is really painful. Think from any aspect, people’s lives are helpless, useless, miserable and helpless. There is poverty, unemployment, illiteracy and superstition. There are the same bad practices, hunger, fear and devotion to God. And the biggest tragic truth is that if a helpless life cries, then to whom should it cry!
If you are a human being, then imagine the life of the bank manager and cashier who lost their lives on Friday night (11.50) by floundering in the rainwater under the old Faridabad railway underbridge. Did these two, their families or all of us ravine dwellers ever think that people also die of suffocation on the road like this? I think even animals do not die like this. It is my personal experience that when the water level in the river rises or the flow is fast, the animals automatically come out and hide far away on the banks.
So who is to blame? The manager and cashier themselves or the system of the ravines?
Faridabad is the capital region of the ravines. And there are so many and varied experiences of what happened to the capital region of Delhi in the rainy season of 2024 that our Ajit Dwivedi, while giving details of them, wrote that ‘Delhi is a living hell’.
But there is a difference between hell and ravine. Hell is governed by a special system. Hell is for those who are sinners and have the sins to suffer hell. But the people of India, the people of ravine, the people of Chambal are simple, innocent, straightforward. Why should they suffer hell? They are the sufferers of that ravine which is created by the system, for the system, from an integrated ecosystem of the hunger and arrogance of the system.
Do you remember the incident of three young men dying due to rainwater filling up in the basement of a building in Rajendra Nagar, Delhi? Who was held responsible for that incident? Can the system ever hold itself responsible for the death of HDFC Bank manager and cashier who were sitting in a car due to water filling up in the car? Absolutely not! Because it is not possible for anyone from Narendra Modi to the ward councillor, beat constable, patwari or babu to hold themselves accountable to the people of the ravines!
The main characteristic of the ecosystem of the rugged structure from the Prime Minister to the councillor is that it is the master of everyone but is not responsible to anyone! This is because they know how to ride the elephant, the lion, the power but they neither know the ABC of controlling it, whipping it, keeping it disciplined and responsible, nor do they consider it necessary nor do they have the courage. It can also be understood this way that the bandits and rebels of the ravines are considered messiahs among the common people but their main concern is the arbitrary use of the lathi and the system. Ultimately, they enjoy power 24 hours a day due to their hunger for power, its grace, its use, its participation. They remain engrossed in it.
No one is responsible in the ravines. Its system is terror, fear and loot. It moves according to destiny.
So if people die in the ravines, who is going to count the number of deaths? Why even think about it! A reporter has written on the news of Faridabad- People here say that such accidents keep happening here every day during the rainy season and even after complaining, no one listens. On this incident, the police says that people do not listen even after being forbidden…barricades were put up, still people kept taking the vehicle. Even after the death of the bankers, the administration is indifferent. The underpass is still filled with water, the corporation gate is locked. The police is saying that no FIR has been filed, the corporation is not at fault in this. The bankers were forbidden not to go but they went. Cashier Viraj was from Gurgaon. So he did not know that there would be so much water under the Old Faridabad railway underbridge that the vehicle would drown inside the water. So as soon as the vehicle filled with water, Viraj tried to take the vehicle out but due to water the vehicle stopped. It got locked. Both of them kept struggling inside.
So who is to blame? The dead! Because in the first place why were they roaming in the ravines at night? Then why was it assumed that the underpass of the metropolis cannot be so full of water? Why did the driver not read the notice written on the road side (at 11.50 pm, in the dark) that, beware, if the water has reached this red line, do not use this bridge.
And the most important thing is why to lament! If you are living in the ravines, then why think about life and death! Every day in the ravines of India, countless people die in road accidents. They die due to lightning. They die due to storms. They die due to drowning in water. They die due to snake bites. They die due to unclaimed medical treatment. They die after eating bad, adulterated things. They die by suicide. And yes, you know, they die due to threats too!
Where do these threats come from? From different sub-ravines located in the ravines. Do you know how many ravines are there these days within the ravines of 140 crore people? Innumerable. Some say calls come from Mewat, some say from Jamtara area, but from whatever I have heard, it seems that for the whole world like Pakistan, Vietnam, Laos, Kampuchea etc., India is now that ravine which is the ideal terrain for looting with the help of smartphones. People can be easily fooled and money can be extorted in one go. They can be forced to commit suicide. Disputes can be created in families and defamation can be caused in society. These are really unimaginable stories and experiences. And a series can definitely be written on these.
In the face of this unprecedented calamity and disaster of cyber crime, the people of the ravines are as helpless and powerless as they were during the Chambal experiences when the bandits were demanding ransom, extorting money and looting.
You may think that I am blaming Narendra Modi and Amit Shah out of prejudice. But honestly, keep your hand on your heart, look at your experiences and those around you and think that in the last ten years, how many new types of robbers have been running a massive campaign to loot the innocent people of the ravines? Calls are being made from everywhere, from Delhi, from different states and countries like Pakistan, Vietnam, Laos, but it is happening. And the ravines are being cheated, looted but the Government of India, the state government and the police officers of the whole country, the entire system cannot do anything. Everyone has the same answer – we cannot do anything. No one can do anything.
This is the truth of the digital revolution! According to a statistic, there are 66 crore smartphones in the ravines right now. According to a report, 95 percent of phone holders receive three to four spam, false and fraud calls. They receive about 12 fraud messages every day.
And who is the leader of all this gang? Government of India! Because by collecting data of the citizens of the ravines in many ways, from Aadhar card, Kisan card to DigiYatra etc., the Government of India has made the task of looting in the ravines very easy for cyber robbers. In the ravines of Chambal, dacoits Man Singh, Malkhan or Phoolan had to work hard to find out the details of the rich people of the area or the families who could be looted. But the Government of India has collected the data of 140 crore people, photos, status, and has exposed everyone’s whereabouts, phone numbers, history and secrets in the computers of cyber robbers of the country and the world. And when this is so, then why shouldn’t they use that data to fool and cheat the people of the ravines through fake IDs, fake documents, fake voices, fake photos-videos etc.!
But why cry over this! Gone are the days when there was security even in Chambal. Small, common people were protected from lies and robbery then. They did not step out of their houses in the evening or at night. They were cautious even during the day. But in the developed ravines of Modi and Shah’s digital revolution, there is no scope for such precautions. Now even the poor are being duped by giving them false promises of loans and money, while the people of the rest of India are being threatened, duped and robbed by calls from names like CBI’s Deputy SP, ED officer, SP, Kotwal, Bank Manager etc., who have some status!
Think about this golden era. On the new top leader-bureaucrat system of the ravines which loots the rich and the well-off people and on the ground reality of the ecology of phone calls, orders, deceptions, lies, loot reaching the homes of the people at the top as well as the people at the bottom in the ravines. Does the life and property of a person, the identity, dignity, security of a citizen have any meaning anywhere in the ravines?