Note : Found this interesting piece on one of my friend's facebook wall.. I have just copied it..
People are loading too much of trust on Mr. Hazare. All of them will soon have their trusts shattered when they'd realize they have been getting all emotional over nothing. A clear case of political opportunism, backed by the right wing. The gullible public is playing a part in it because they are taking Anna Hazare's word for it. One needs to think where they get funds to travel in chartered flights and arrange sound systems and displays. Definitely not from the Gandhian Anna Hazare's pocket, nor from the public who hate corruption but leave no chance to use it to further their interests.
Accept it, we, the people of India love corruption. We just hate other people who get bigger gains than us, through corruption. What’s happening in the country is nothing short of a blame game. It is as if everyone in this country is clean except the politicians and that too those of just the ruling party.
Yes, the present government is one of the most corrupt so far, but that doesnt mean you need to play into the hands of the opposition which is not far behind. Can the BJP say which of heir politicians or their allied politicians are honest? At least this government has the guts to put behind bars their own ministers. I can’t think of one incident where a BJP minister was sacked, leave alone jailed. Bangaru Lakshman who was the only guy cornered, after all the brouhaha by Tehelka is now a free man.
I see people getting all worked up and posting status messages about 'toppling corruption' and the 'fight against corruption' as if it is something that is external to them. Guys stop paying bribes and stop receiving favours and that will mitigate corruption. Passing a Lok pal bill is not going to do anything. The change has to come from within. Holding a candle and the national flag doesn’t make you honest or clean. You can do a lot more by actually not being corrupt.
Paying money or receiving money as bribe is not the only form of corruption. Voting a politician expecting him to benefit you and 'your people' is a worse form of corruption. You elect people on those lines, and you will get a corrupt neta. YOU are to blame for this. YOU do this and then blame 'the politicians' for the corruption in the country. YOU are the ones who put them there and gave them the power.
The Lok Pal bill was a step in the right direction, but now it seems to be just an instrument to embarrass the government. The self-appointed civil society needs to understand that they can’t make a perfect bill at a go. Moreover there is no guarantee that this government or the governments that might come later wouldn’t punch holes in it in the future.
Laws and punishments don’t stop people from committing crimes. They only help to an extent. You need to change the people to ensure that. Having an Election Commission which can act independent of the government and has done a good job so far, can only put people trying to buy votes. But if our elections are anything to go by, the ECI has only made a small dent in the vote-buying. The reason for this are not just the vote buyers, buy more so the vote sellers. Us. No matter how strict the laws are and no matter how powerful the vigilance bodies are, they cannot do much if citizens themselves are to blame. It is impractical to fight and country and put the country behind bars. Politicians are just soft and easy targets. A Raja or a Kalmadi gets noticed only because of the amount of money pilfered seems to be huge. To put it in perspective adding up all the money of major scandals and scams so far in independent India, it would amount to close to 5 lakh crores. India as a country has so far dealt in close to 9 crore crores! The problem hence lies not at the top level, but at the lower level. With us. It’s the common man who is the culprit. Moreover it’s the bribes that they pay for traffic challans, the passport checks and the land documents that cause heartburn to the common man and not the 2G scams and the CWG scams.
Corruption is not the disease, its just a symptom of a deep rooted disease – poverty. Money is such a major issues in the life of the Indian common man. Especially because we are so many and the opportunities so few. We hence resort to illegal methods to make our lives better and easier. We need to create enough opportunities and bring in enough development so that people don’t have to twist laws to make money. Take for example the salaries of our Ministers at the centre. At the end of their 5 year tenure they get what a software engineer would accumulate in the same time. Somewhere around 30 lakhs. By for him to win he HAS to spend a few crores. If he doesn’t pay for votes we don’t vote for him. Even if he is an honest person, to get what he has spent(just break even) on his election campaign, he has to pilfer money. And then they have access to lakhs of crores of rupees. It would be very difficult to not put his hand in the cookie jar.
And it’s a similar case with any other citizen in our country. The traffic constable whom we all hate and is regarded the personification of corruption gets paid Rs. 5600 per month if he works honestly. Then, you expect him to stand in the searing sun, stifling pollution and vehicular noise all through the day. He has to wear clean and ironed clothes too. And the competition for those posts is anyone’s guess. If he is a dishonest constable he can earn a few lakhs per year if he is ‘good’ at it. If you were one such policeman, what would you do? Aren't we asking too much from him and paying too little?
We expect government schools to run at almost no cost, but want top-class education in them. We want our railways to give us clean toilets, punctual drivers, tasty food and friendly Ticket Collector, all at such cheap prices. And no, we wont pay more. We want the traffic constable to overlook some ‘small-small mistakes’ when he comes for a routine check before issuing a passport and we want it quick. We ride without helmets, licenses and Registration papers, but shouldn’t be booked for such petty offences. Aren’t we being a bit too impractical?
Impracticality. Yes, that’s the word. That’s the word that would describe the laws we have and the laws that lead people to corruption. That’s the word that would describe the ‘fight against corruption’ and the proposed sweeping changes thereby.
I don’t think I will have to wait for long to see the Anna’s people to be disillusioned. The sooner, the better.
Then probably people will start thinking about efficient means of solving the problem of corruption instead of just condemning it and expecting it to vanish.
It's my world.
It's quite tough to get rid of things, especially when you are used to it (just like corruption). I'm glad. You know what, I got rid of few things which I always wanted to do. It's just like emptying your closet, throwing away everything which is useless and not important. I threw away all those stuffs which were just rotting over there. It wasn't easy. In the process even few good ones with pungent smell has been thrown out and I know that ( I don't have time to wash it or cleanse it, you see). It is not my first time. I have done this every time at the beginning of the new chapter. It is just my part.