IN the January 1988 issue of The DayAfter, looking at the state of the Republic, I had raised a few questions for the readers to ponder over. That was when India had entered the 41st year of Independence and 38th year of the Republic. Add another 16 years to the march of the nation. Things do not seem to have improved. If anything I think, they have deteriorated. But let me raise the question, which I had raised in the "Letters to Our Readers" as Editor of The DayAfter.

The questions were: Can we afford the style of administration that has come to stay despite the promises and policies of well meaning leaders? Is the ideal of a democratic, socialist, egalitarian government anywhere an evident of truth and reality? Are we being ruled by an irresponsive state machinery? Is the rule of law being applied even with a semblance of honesty in both the executive and judicial spheres? Are ideals like equality of opportunity in education and employment available to the people of India without discrimination of caste, creed and religion? Are we more united or more divided then we were at the time of achieving Independence and declaring this country a sovereign, democratic republic?

I had pointed out at that time that all governments tend to become slothful and negative if the people do not maintain a constant vigil over their activities. It is true for all governments whether at the Centre or in the states. What did you think is the record of the various governments at the Centre and the states by a plethora of political parties ranging from the Congress, the National Conference, the Telugu Desam, the Janata Dal, the AIADMK, the CPM and the AGP? Have the elite classes in the country made any significant contribution to improve the lot of the masses? Or have they been busy pushing and consolidating their class and sectional interest alone? What can the people do outside the confines of the organised bureaucracy and political parties?

I would even like to repeat my words when I wished the readers a happy New Year, I had put on record, "As the New Year dawns, The Dayafter wishes you a very happy New Year but also challenges you to think and act about doing something as an individual or a group, exerting a social force to eliminate the prevailing unhappiness being caused by environmental, political and social pollution in the country".

The point I am making is that several years after with a whole parade of political leaders of various kinds, colours and characters, having come and gone, the crux of the crucial questions remains the same -- Is the nation getting ready to welcome the Republic Day 2004. The characters on the centre-stage have changed but the nature of the political farce being played remains the same. The state of the Republic is as challenging and provocative today as it was then, perhaps more so now than at that time.

The DayAfter was also among the first to expose the nature of sting operations and use of pseudo judicial techniques to rap political opponents as was highlighted in the cover story "Guilty Men of 1987". The investigatory story by The DayAfter Bureau had reported the reaction and response of a wide section of people on the Thakkar Commission Report, which became better known as the "Fairfax Report" to point to the applications of the dangerous methods and techniques to ensnare political opponents and reckless use of judicial mechanisms for that purpose. The endless political scandal cases being filed up and picked up in the courts of the country, courtesy the official investigating agencies and quasi-judicial adventures front-guards of various political parties was, in fact, spawned by affairs like the Fairfax Report. Arif Mohammad Khan had pointed out at that time that the Fairfax reporter or the Thakkar Commission report was not worth the paper it was written upon. The targets of the report were VP Singh, Pande and Bhure Lal and smearing the public image of Nusli Wadia, Ram Nath Goenka and Gurumurthy. The report also seemed to carry the war between two business rivals, the Reliance Industries and Bombay Dyeing into the political arena. In that issue, we also carried an investigative story by Rai Singh entitled "Super-Power Nuclear Pact" had also exposed Pakistan's clandestine nuclear programme in the Indo-Pakistan context. It had pointed out that Reagan Administration had approved a $4.02 billon military and economic aid to Pakistan even when the US law itself required a ban on all such aid to Pakistan, which was clandestinely engaged in the production of nuclear weapons. And that was the time that United States was pressurising all countries to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. It is an irony of history that US was itself inadvertently or knowingly guilty of proliferating nuclear weapons to Pakistan, which extended it to other countries like Iran, who are now attracting the US wrath for attempts to produce weapons of mass destruction. We had an equally provocative investigatory story in that issue entitled "Why are we so incompetent by G.S. Chandy, about governments that squander large sums of money without any achievement and leaders who do not lead.