As a resident of a small city in India, I understand how crucial changes are, and how, when made for the better, they can shape a new society. In India, a mayor is the head of the municipal corporation, a local government body in cities and towns. Their responsibility is to look over the education, sanitation, electricity, and other departments. However, it is quite unfortunate that these departments are usually ignored, leaving the people in the poorer region of towns, distressed and helpless.

As a responsible citizen, I wish to serve society when I grow up. I want to work for the backward regions of our country and help poor farmers escape poverty and heavy debts. I wish to improve the position of women in society and bring them in par with men. I wish to provide education for those without it, health treatments to those suffering, and loans for those who need it.

I wish to bring about a change, and thus, if I were the mayor of my town:
I would improve the roads in rural areas. India isn’t a wealthy country, and some parts of our country are worse than the others, with homes that are falling apart, scarce schools, and almost no hospitals. But the worst condition is that of the roads. The roads which connect homes to faraway hospitals, that link houses of children to schools, that join farms to markets, that bond homes to wells, are, broken, clogged or non-existent. In villages, children do not go to school mainly because of unavailability of transportation.

If I were mayor, improving the condition of these roads would be my first priority. It is true the government suffers when it comes to funding, and there is a lack of resources. However, it is also true that money is mostly not well spent and planning is unorganized.

If I were mayor, my first job to improve the situation in hand, would be to develop a standard road design for villages, which can be used by the government to have an organized network of roads instead of random paths, leading to nowhere. Every village will have a road department, which overlooks the construction and maintenance of roads, so that roads can be efficiently built and utilized.

In cities, the state of roads is worst during the monsoons, when potholes cover the roads, leading to a large number of road accidents. The most obvious solution to this problem is to ensure that advanced technologies are used with regard to weather conditions, to construct roads. I would surely make an improvement in the quality of underground drainage to avoid potholes.

However, despite of the government already implementing these measures in some cities, the roads succumb easily to large transport vehicles. Thus, the most apt thing to do would be to keep a check on the load carried by the large number of trucks on the road. The excessive load that is carried by them damages the roads, making it easy prey to destruction even under minute weights.

As an animal lover, the state of street animals in our country, mostly dogs, disheartens me. Be it day or night, village or city, winter or summer, street dogs can be found on the streets sleeping, barking at strangers or scavenging to feed their family. Sure, there are areas where people feed these dogs and take good care of them but more often than not, these dogs have to survive themselves. As a result, many of them die out of starvation, body infections, or skin diseases.

If I were mayor, I would take into consideration the miserable state of these dogs. I would organize rabies camps, where they can be vaccinated against rabies, and can be sterilized. I would also open up adoption camps, where street dogs are adopted and raised by loving families.

I have never seen an animal park in our country, but I know that if it is in my power, I would love to open one. In animal shelters, these dogs would be assigned one person who would take them to the park. My ideal dog park would be huge, to accommodate their high population. It would have healthy food that dogs would enjoy, a number of balls for the dogs to fetch, and swings to play on.

All countries of the world are far behind in reaching gender equality, and India is no exception. Women are denied the same rights as men, and are considered as the inferior and weaker sex. We say that women are not behind men in any field, but that is in terms of capability, not in terms of opportunity. Education, the most basic right to human, is denied to women across our country. Sans education, women become sans freedom, sans security and sans voice. My own grandmother was forced to leave school at the age of 15, and was married by 16. Her mother didn’t even see a school, much less think about education.

If there is anything that needs to change foremost, it is this unhealthy disregard towards women’s helpless condition.

If I were mayor, I would visit villages to make internet cheaply accessible to all households. Girls need to have access to technology, so that if school is not affordable, they can educate themselves. I would also arrange or enhance programmes wherein women can be provided sustainable employment. With women, rich or poor alike, cases of domestic violence, sexual harassment and rape are not unheard of. In cities and villages, I would help build a centre of service where women can receive help and assistance.

I don’t know if this dream of mine would ever be realized, but I am sure that if I were to become mayor someday, I would help in uplifment of the area’s assets: the people. I want to become the voice of helpless people, and by becoming mayor, I’ll help people, one voice at a time.