If there is one crime that every Indian has committed, then it is tolerating corruption. This tolerance has churned out 121 crore criminals — all of us who accept that corruption is a way of life and decide not to fuss over it.
If there is one crime that every Indian has committed, then it is tolerating corruption. This tolerance has churned out 121 crore criminals — all of us who accept that corruption is a way of life and decide not to fuss over it. We are insensitive to corruption and have promoted it.
Now that Anna Hazare has fasted to free India from this evil, we need to ensure that we don't end up becoming a failed state. By allowing corruption to thrive in the very system on which our democracy stands tall, we are contributing towards it. One of the biggest factors behind the ills of countries like Pakistan and Russia is corruption. When everyone around us is corrupt, people have no one to turn to for respite, but nihilistic forces like naxals and fundamentalists. And that's how mightiest nations crumble. We will be there sooner than we think if we don't act on corruption now.
But a Lokpal bill, a change of government, or even the arrest of thousands of corrupt persons is not going to bring about that change. There will be no effective change till each of us as individuals decide not to indulge in any form of corruption and, more importantly, not to be quiet about it.
Granted that it is not always our greed that supports corruption but at times our needs. The state and the Union governments should, on a priority basis, bring about complete transparency in the processes that force people to indulge in corrupt practices. For instance, the common man faces maximum corruption in the sectors of revenue, home (police), health and education. We need sustainable change to banish corruption. And let us never forget, extreme social inequality will breed corruption. Traffic police assistants, teaching assistants, paramedical and health workers, who earn as little as Rs2,000 to Rs5,000 per month, will be susceptible to corruption for their mere survival. Till we rectify these problems, any attempt to curb corruption will fail.
There are other aspects to consider also. Police constables, teachers, nurses, doctors, panchayat employees, are forced to fork out thousands of rupees as haftas (weekly payments) to simply keep their jobs. This is because their political masters need to gather ‘party funds’ and ‘election funds’. This must end.
We need a solution to this grave problem.
Business and corporate houses are only interested in maximising their profits and stop at nothing to achieve that goal. Tragically, the moneyed lot in India believes that everything has a price; that anyone and anything can be bought. Moreover, corruption has become so ingrained within us that those who do not indulge in corrupt practises are considered “not practical”.
Part of this can be blamed on our culture of hypocrisy. This is reflected in our laws too. As a nation, we refuse to legitimise prostitution. The result is that millions of sex workers in the country are harassed by the police. This gives birth to the underworld which thrives on trading and protecting them. It then spreads its tentacles and eats away all the pillars of democracy.
Why can’t we make life simple for these heavily exploited women?
Why do we create laws that only subject them to a life in living hell?
Mahatma Gandhi could never have imagined in a wildest nightmare that the prohibition he preached has been used by successive Gujarat governments as a weapon to corrupt the entire state. Every Gujarati who wants to sip alcohol has to turn to a bootlegger, who thrives on corruption, and thus every common person ends up supporting and funding corruption. Gangsters, the underworld, narco-smugglers, terrorists… they have all benefited from Gujarat’s prohibition on the consumption of alcohol. The solution is simple: legitimise the sale and consumption of alcohol.
It was interesting to note how the entire nation reacted to Anna Hazare’s movement, almost like a second freedom struggle. Of course, there was no external enemy, like the British, this time. The enemy is within us. This should be a struggle to get rid of the enemy within us —corruption.
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