When Time Magazine awarded the Person of the Year 2011 award to the entity The Prot estor

r , heads rolled around the world as to how the common, downtrodden man was able to secure such a high honor. The prestigious magazine s announcement is proof enoug h of the fact that 2011 has been a year when the ordinary man stood up against v arious forms of ill governance. The government s inaction and failure to keep its wo rd forced people to come out of their houses and take up protest as a mode of li velihood, only to ensure a better future. The cause of the protest must always be taken into consideration as the past yea r saw an array of serious protests and it is highly abnormal to speculate that p eople had taken to the streets merely for the fun of it. From Syria to Egypt, th e common voice of the protestors united against the fact that their governments were not able to provide them with the basic amenities needed to lead a sustaina ble life. The year 2011 saw a number of protests, some violent, others peaceful. But the failure of governments all over the world has been established and the cure is being searched for amidst these protests and discontentment. India too came under the shadow of protests in the year 2011 and most of them su rrounding the startling revelations of the Central government s active role in corru ption. A number of central ministers and employees were accused of engaging in f raudulent activities and proved to be highly corrupt. The nation of billions sud denly was on the verge of a war as the division between the people and the gover nment was clear and it seemed that people have woken up from a long sleep during which their elected government was stabbing them behind their backs. The scams related to CWG, 2G, a number of mining scams in Karnataka were few of the exampl es which ignited people and they took to the streets as a form of retaliation. T he whole controversy surrounding the Jan Lok Pal Bill and whether it will be suc cessful in eliminating corruption or not became a frustrating issue as like any other seemingly noble cause in our country, this too came under the scanner of p oliticization and mutual mud-slinging. Governments all over the world are known for a particular characteristic that de fine and unite their uselessness, i.e making promises and not fulfilling them. T his is a common trait shared by governments all over the world resulting in thei r inability to fulfill demands made by their own people. If 2011 succeeded in te aching governments anything at all, they should try and keep some of the elabora te promises they make every year in order to provide their people with decent li ving conditions. Our government has uncountable schemes and plans which it sadly fails to implement. Schemes such as the Public Distribution System which provid es for food grains and kerosene oil at lower prices for the poor, NREGA which pr omises hundred days of work for the poor etc should not only be kept as promises but tried to be implemented as well. A democracy means much more than conductin g elections and securing electoral victories. People vote for their governments hoping that the promises made would be kept for their benefit. 2011 ought to hav e taught the government about keeping promises and the necessity of transforming words into suitable action.