The case for Anti-Corruption Movement

The last few days, the comments on the anti-corruption drive are amazing..

One person said, its all pointless, till we effect change in ourselves on bribing.

Another said, will anybody bother once the media goes gung ho after IPL starts.

A third person said, hey this guy also had dubious deal allegation, so why assign credibility to this initiative

Made me think.. Did we also introspect and question on every unrest/movements when we were fighting to gain independence from the British? Are we not fighting to get independence from paying bribes for stuff which should be available outright. Some make it sound, that we, ourselves, mentally go prepared that to do anything, we must pay a bribe, like we need to put a coin before making a call at the phone booth. It is not so. We are entitled to live a life free of the hurdles that the governing bodies impose upon us implicitly. Why must I need to pay a bribe to get a death certificate at that shady looking office, so that the last rites on the departed can be performed. Given a choice and right, I must not be “required” to pay the bribe. Often, it is not a choice but has been made to believe that it is a necessity and the way things are. When we go abroad, or live there, you will feel this difference, of being able to live your life free of the many hassles, we face on a daily basis. Need an electric connection, pay bribe to the officer, engineer and the guy whose job is to fit in a screw and connect the wire. Pay a bribe to expedite the MTNL linesman to expedite the line connection so that you can conduct your business. Pay a bribe, so that your elected representatives, can go to the House, and raise issues that affect your locality/region; something he was supposed to do and get paid for by the handsome remuneration he gets from the government. You pay bribes to lawyers, justices,court clerks, so that some depositions go missing, lawyers can look the other way, dates keep getting extended and justice can tilt to your favor. Is this it? To be a citizen of a country like India, I have to morally bereft of all ethical means and live a life of questionable measures. How many generations will need to be born, dead and passed, before we can feel this glut beyond the inflicted suffering.

Media – The partisan friend n foe rolled in one. Their objectivity is highly questionable and often swings to which ever way the powers want it to be. As they say – Jo biktha hai, vo hi chaltha hai 🙂 Recently, I saw the movie based on the Jessica Lal killing. Media just says, is there a story there ( worth making money on or getting TRP eyeballs )? Does the media really bother about right/wrong, objectivity, activism,social change anymore? Have our media barons forgotten the power of the written word of the yore like the Kesari/The Telegraph, during our struggles to get our dues? Or has it fully understood them for the subservient gains that arise from the press, as a tool of opinion manipulation.

Either way, the state of affairs has really gone to the dogs and the people (read PM ) on whom we pledged our faith in, have become the ones to dread. Dr.Singh does not appear to be a Lal Bahadur Shastri despite dressing up so and having a humble humility like facade. It is clear that we as citizens have a serious role in this state of affairs. We voted them with a unanimous sense and gave them all the freedom for them to perpetrate their oppressions on us. I am not,as someone commented, qualified enough to do a political commentary on the corruption in my country, but when I can feel the singe of its effects, its time to do something about it. AND NOW IS THE TIME.

As Dr.Abdul Kalam once said in his famous speech at the EU parliament, that change begins with you and spreads to your family and to your community and to the nation and to the whole world.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1OBQ-3GbPY

“Where there is righteousness in the heart, there is beauty in the character.When there is beauty in the character, there is harmony in the home. When there is harmony in the home, there is order in the nation. when there is order in the nation, there is peace in the world.”

Change from within is vital but a common conciousness of change, can become a tsunami of a revolution.