India amidst various scams. Are we living in a land of scam and corruption? I am very much irritated to know about the recent swindles and fiddles happening around the nation. This led me to generate a strong infuriation towards the concern politicians, the incapacitated laws/judiciary and the unethical journalism. The recent telecom 2G spectrum auction scam in India is one ideal piece of example for an extremely ridiculous defrauds and misuses of the Government’s power. This outrageous deceit has cost the country a massive US$39 Billion. A part of the media industry has literally supported this 2G corruption, and deliberately suppressed news reporting the discovery of the corruption.
For a so called developing country like India, where there are about 550+ million youth population (aged under 26), news of such kind is very disturbing and demotivating. It is a real threat to their belief/dream of a developed nation. Their vision to live in a hunger free, well sanitised, developed nation is in turmoil, neither they are taught to fight such corruptions nor there is a social movement to prevent such corruptions.
All we have learnt from childhood is to tolerate on the things like administrative disorientation, misuse of power, bribery, differences in terms of caste creed etc., not to mention that everyone is well informed that the ‘field of politics is sewage to service’. This germinates a strong belief among the young minds that our perception of life is to become an Engineer, Doctor, Professor, Entrepreneur etc, none have a good note of taking up politics as a profession. We all know that service to the mankind is the service to the God; so therefore I perceive politics as a vital profession just as a medical physician; after all in former an entire society is cured and saved, than to the latter in which an individual is getting healed.
While I explored some books/articles on corruption in the context of a developing nation, the corruption is explained as follows. Corruption has not always been perceived to have a negative impact upon economic development and growth. One view is that corruption acts as an efficient lubricant for facilitating development in a highly regulated and slow moving economic environment as it enables actors to cross barriers which hamper economic decision making. As a result, rich get richer, poor become poorer.
I personally don’t believe in lamenting on the various corruptions beginning from the renowned Bofors scam, stock market scam, the infamous cattle feed scam etc., to this recent 2G scam, under different timelines. We all know about the wounded and injured part of our nation, what needs to be done is to find ways to heal. For this I propose a solution based approach of preventing corruption. In a solution based approach a problem is solved by focusing on solutions rather than focussing on the causes/effects of the actual problems.
Here are some of the immediate and significant ways by which we can build a corruption-free future society,
- Don’t elect your state representatives by caste.
o When the politics is based on caste/religion and the decisions are taken by the voter at the emotional level, corruption probably becomes more tolerable. In the current highly atomised society voting without the influence of caste sentiments is very crucial.
- Increase literacy rate (Enforce Education)
o 40% of India’s total population are still illiterate. The lack of education makes people to be diverted by fancy speeches by the political parties. Enforcing education is the strong way to see a corruption free state.
o Stats reveal that the Indian state of Kerala emerged as a least corrupt state; it is because of the high literacy rate (>95% literacy) in that state and also the corresponding awareness of exercising their rights in Kerala.
- Ethical journalism
o The media must be Unbiased. Press must be a supportive pillar to build a positive society. They are really the self confidence builders and booster.
- Avoid impolite social practises
o The indecorous social practises like dowry system, boorish practises within a religion etc. must be abolished. I am not an atheist, but I believe it is highly comical to believe that if fraudulent activities become intolerant GOD will appear in the world and clean up a dishonest society. (Not meant to hurt any religious sentiments, please feel free to disagree)
- Enforce & revive Laws
o Revitalizing and implementing appropriate laws which are strict enough to bring the offenders to law and justice. The revived judicial system must be completely decentralized to prevent corrupt politicians, and related fraudulent activities.
- Nothing comes from non-sense
o Avoid accepting gifts from the candidates during an election process, eg, free television, and other gifts etc.,
o Unnecessary Gifts from Government is not always acceptable. In the state of Tamilnadu (place where I hail from) colour television is offered free of cost, 1 kg (2.2 lbs) of rice is sold at INR 2 (approx 0.04 $ cents) this price is fixed to address the needs of the poor. However on the other hand, a bottle of liquor (180ml) cost INR 90 (approx $ 2.1), and this is the state where there are people whose daily earnings are less than $1. Tamilnadu ranks 24th in the per capita income among the 32 states & union territories of India.
- Make bribe official
o Unnecessary and complex state policies and formalities induce the need to bribe official in order to speed up the task.
o One way to reduce bureaucracy in public offices is to have a quick service cells. These cells will cater the needs of individuals or a business unit which demands a swifter action, an additional tax (with receipt) can be introduced for such express service departments.
- Political Engineering
o The first adage which I learnt from my college is “Scientists read the world, Engineers create the world”. Certainly this is a golden adage not just to boast Engineers but to increase the quest of having the politics reengineered by education and scientific methods.
o This Political engineering department should be a strong tool to generate eminent administrators (not just limiting to the chosen few in the traditional administrative services). These political engineers will develop and implement on the different political & administrative models, and have a strong focus on improving social-economical resources and sustaining the growth. They will also be a strong medium of education against corruption – they need to actively participate in bringing the adverse effects of corruption to the spot light.
- Legal Market
o Duly insist on a regular receipt on all the commodities from hair pins to hummer cars, nail polish to Nokia phones. Ensure when we buy things with the sales tax duly added to the bill?
o Obliterate “Black Money”- it is a cause of big loss in the tax-revenues for the government. NRIs must use proper and authorized channels to perform money transactions among different nations. They should avoid clandestine channels for such transactions.
- Be an example
o Last but not least, be an example. Let your life be an example for the future generation, and may you be the reason to make a small difference in lives of a few people.
o Be a good teacher, good parent, good business person, good public servant, and lead your life as an example for the young population that might follow. Pass on your idea of a corruption free state among various forms.
On an end note, I would like to conclude this article by pledging that under any situation I won’t get a penny as dowry. I reserve this to some special girl, born already somewhere, to marry me :) To all my beloved readers, I will be happy to hear your views.
With lots of hopes to see you all in a developed India,
-Jayabalaji Sathiyamoorthi
(The best way to start achieving a thing is to dream about it – Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam)
Comments
It has everything in it.. A problem, solution to the problem, ur wish & thought!! everything is conveyed benevolently!! kudos!!
One small suggestion - u can give links wherever you are quoting something(stats,other reference items/articles etc).
I wish you all the best and waiting for your future articles!!
Thanks a lot for the comments. I agree the fact that I need to state the references. I do have a version with proper end/foot notes, will publish in my knols. I'll certainly consider your inputs for my next posts. Thanks again, ppl like you are my motivation to write more.
cheers | JB
Thanks for your comments. Hope it was a good read.
Just to add on to the solution part.Youths and young ppl shld fisrt come fwd to vote/elect their leaders.
This is my personal opinion frnd..
overall, I like your way of approaching the subject. First detailing the problem, followed by the ill effect, then solutions and you put your views very well, and the best part is you have not imposed anything.!! I like the idea of having a political college, by which only educated person can be able to become a MLA or MP. One suggestion you could have pointed more on the adverse effects of our coalition parliament. keep blogging, good luck da.!!
Well thought article. Here are some comments on corruption in India. In my humble opinion it is wrong to think that just the politicians are corrupt and rest of the people are fine.
1. You advocate electing people without caste consideration; is it easy for the population where all key decisions in their lives like even selecting their spouse is based on caste/community?
2. I completely agree with you that Education and improving the judiciary are very key elements to democracy; Judiciary in India functions, indeed; if not for it 2G spectrum would have got hushed up. However the question to ask is, is justice available to every one? when will all the pending court cases be cleared up? why not open more courts, appoint more judges to speed up the judicial process?
3. In absence of judiciary, truth cannot come out since it is the law of jungle that rules; in such an environment media also cannot be truthful since they will get shot dead or ransacked at the minimum, for telling the truth.
4. How many of us are corrupt? How many of us look for short cuts when things don't work our way?
5. Just as for aristocracy "Yatha Raja, thatha Praja" is applicable, in a democracy, "Yatha Praja, thatha Raja" is applicable. It means the people who govern us are a sum average of all of us put together.
6. The country that came up with "Satyameva Jayate" and has a long history of exploring truths, has today majority of its citizens happy with half-truths or untruths. It is sad to see this state of affairs.
The situation in India is not all that hopeless. The very fact that we are hearing lot more scams now than a decade ago shows that democratic mechanism has grown stronger over years. We have come a long way; there is still a long way to go!!
I really admire your personal oath. I do meet many people who live by similar principles. It is this minority group that brings about the change and that can bring about changes.