Red Beacons’ Path to Luxury Ends!
India’s current Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been continuously making and taking decisions that have not only surprised the citizens of India, but the whole world. Now, one decision taken by his cabinet has once again surprised people, which is to ban the use of red beacons from the first of May on the cars of government officials including constitutional heads and VIP’s.
India has long been faced with the problem of cars with ‘lal batti’( Hindi translation of red beacon) as they make their way through the congested roads with ease are of the reasons for the commotion and traffic jam caused, which brings in a lot of trouble for commuters.
“Red beacons are synonymous with the ‘Raj mentality’ and are the ‘antithesis of the concept of republic’”, stated the supreme court in 2013. This decision has been appreciated by people, stating that this is a decisive move to change the perception of the state and its functionaries from rulers to ‘Sevaks’ to support the people.
The democratic country, which stands for the people and by the people can truly be felt now as the VIP racism in terms of the privilege of the red beacon has been snatched away, making them also combat the traffic like anybody else.
“Every Indian is special, every Indian is a VIP.” States the Indian Prime Minister via twitter. He also tweeted that the use of red beacons should have gone long ago. Glad that today a strong beginning has been made. The minister of Finance, Defence, and Corporate Affairs Arun Jaitley said at a news conference on Monday that, “We are removing the rule which allows state and central government to specify who can use the red lights,”
In 2013, the supreme court of India had recommended that certain categories would be allowed to use the red beacon. Well now no one, even the President, Prime Minister or the Chief Justice of India can have red beacons on their vehicle. While the police, ambulance and fire services would use blue beacons. These moves to eradicate the VIP culture can bring about a change in the mindset of people.
Story teller- Adeep S.L