CoNsCiEnCe, WhO aRt tHoU?

An article in The Hindu about the state of progress in the "modernization" of the weaponry for Mumbai police triggered a train of thoughts in me, and albeit a tad too late, I'm writing this to spell out my angered bewilderment. The article states that the rifles and other equipments will still remain useless and render the wielders helpless in the face of a terror attack. The police are people who put themselves in danger every single moment they execute their duties. They risk their lives to save others', and don't even get paid decently. They don't get proper houses to live because the land sanctioned to build their quarters is used for other profitable enterprises. The largely ineffective intelligence, either because of the lack of it or the quality, comes as no big surprise. Such inadequacies also spurn corruption. Everything about the absence of even the bare minimum is common knowledge, but it doesn't make the faintest difference in reality because it's so very easy to remain ingorant. It is conveniently overlooked by politicians , who, in all their assumed pomposity and pretentiousness strut around as if they own the law, and rightfully so because they really do. All they care about is the number of bank accounts they own and the possible ways to superadd them through disgusting ways. There are people in our country who can't afford a square meal a day, people who can't afford a roof over their heads, people who can't afford education even if they deserve it, people with serious illnesses live every moment of the pain because they can't pay medical bills and die slowly and painfully, people who live under the constant threat of terror and cannot spend a day in peace, farmers who commit suicide because of insufficient produce, and why, even people who live on rats because otherwise, they just have to die in hunger. I have seen old people sitting by roadsides on the pavements, watching passers-by and wait for those few coins that will sustain them. What does life have to offer them? What purpose does it serve? What can they hope for? Whom will they share their pains with? What does the next the minute bring with it, more pain? Or numbness? There are street animals that need protection, and animals that have lost their homes because of deforestation. They're cold and hungry, and there's nobody to care for them. When calamities and terror attacks happen, they're left in pain, frightened and terrified. But none of this matters to the people in power when they have the authority to change everything. They have to mount piles of money for another hundred generations, and ensure posts in the ministry to all their family members. Blinded by lust for power and money, all the pain and suffering borne by the unfortunate majority of our country becomes invisible. A police officer at the CST helplessly fired his outdated gun at the terrorists, and had to shield himself with a chair when he ran out of bullets. I can't imagine what the poor man must've gone through during those final moments. Where are those condescending, sympathising politicians who dish out the overused-condemning-message-gone-stale after every damned attack, when they're responsible to provide security forces with necessary arms. We live in a place where anything can be bought with money, and morals are things that lived in the past and are now long gone and dead. I wish, with all the modern advancements and technology, that responsible strata of the society is provided with conscience transplantation, but I know it's impossible, because it is supposed to come from within.