India wakes up to change

Almost 60 years ago, we adopted justice, liberty and equality as our national ideals.
We promised ourselves a progressive nation that respects every citizen. As we celebrate our 59th Republic Day, its time to evaluate our role as citizens of India and see where we are falling short.
The recent terror attacks in Mumbai and the lackadaisical response to it have sparked a debate about the citizen���s role in governance.
We are doing our bit as citizens, but the efforts are not united. The alienation of masses from the country���s governance is the reason for people���s lack of civic sense. We need a collective awareness. The recent public outcry in Mumbai after the terror attack was an instance of citizens influencing the administrative machinery for positive action. The sense of duty is slowly but surely dawning on us.
----Sameer Soni, Actor
People need to feel proud as citizens of India and embrace the ideals at the root of our nationalism. Rather than being mute spectators waiting for change to happen, we need to initiate change ourselves. The winds of change can be felt, and we need to sustain it.
��� Mrunal Kulkarni,
TV personality
We need to perform our civic duties religiously. In our system of governance there are loopholes that need to be filled. For this we need people who are driven by a strong sense of duty and not those who merely play the blame game.
��� Priyanka Shah,
Model
We carry a ���I-can-make-no-difference��� attitude, and this makes us responsible for what we are. We have no right to complain if we don���t do anything to change ourselves.
��� Hussain Kuwajerwala,
TV personality
We have failed in our duty. That's the reason we have failed in so many other fronts. To start with, we can pledge not to violate rules and prevent any harm done to our environment.
��� Koena Mitra,
Actor
We don���t vote, we litter our city and pollute the environment, which shows that we are neither exercising our rights nor doing our duties. Duty should not be idealised as a virtue. It���s the least expected of us as citizens of a nation.
��� Shahana Goswami,
Actor
We have a parochial attitude while conducting ourselves. While we do nothing to improve the situation, we hold others responsible for it. What hurts most is when even educated people behave irresponsibly. The change starts from an individual. Let���s respect traffic rules, not litter our city and discourage bribery.��� Bikram Saluja, Model-cum-actor
We are doing our duty, but partially. We overlook blatant discrepancies that beset our society when we actually need a strong action against them. One has to treat one���s country as one���s home, and do everything to make it a better place to live in.
��� Rati Agnihotri,
Actor
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