It seems for the last few weeks our ears are constantly ringing with few words especially "corruption".
Here is an attempt to demystify notion of corruption in India.
Disclaimer: I don't claim to be expert in the area but i would like to put forth my views and try to provide food for thought on different views when it comes to corruption.
Like most of us, my notion of corruption was developed when our elders discussed over various topics over tea or lunch blaming the system and bureaucrats, politicians in general and showing their resentment to the common belief that system cannot be cleaned up and we as citizens have to live with it and accept it as fact of life. This notion would further get intensified when you see a play or movie in which a corrupt politician gets roughed up by our hero and he becomes the savior of hundreds of people from the clutches of rogue.
Coming back to the topic, i think the crucial weapon which is unconventional that any human being posses is "Information" (no pun intended).
Very little information for doing any task is as dangerous as wrong information being consumed to execute any task. Having "no information" in itself is a curse for people who have no access to it. Thereby It implies that "right information" is only way forward.
Well that's the most crucial question that most of us have. What is the "right information" and "How do we find it"
In today's world A pessimist would ask "who would provide the right information and why would any one provide a right information without some self interest attached to it? Don't get me wrong here. People do provide information but it could be their opinion or speculation about something and the accuracy or preciseness is always questionable. Well you might argue that it is true anywhere in the world. But my observation is we as Indians speculate, form opinions and share them even though we have little information about the topic which is quite dangerous.
Think about it, Let says if some one asks "how do you rate your current chief minister".
or "what are the factors that are impedance to the progress of our country".
Well they are heavy weighted questions. How do we go about answering those questions.
a) My current chief minister meets common people regularly. So he is good with regard to being
accessible and people friendly.
- But the question we should be asking "Is he actually solving their burning problems or just meeting them for formality"
b) My current chief minister inaugurated several projects within my city and state.
- well did you know if took that project initiative during his reign and how did he accommodate the money for the project. Did the have enough funds from government exchequer or he raised debt for it.
c) My current chief minister is god fearing.
- How is this relevant anyway to the development of the state ??
d) My current chief minister has laid new roads through out the state.
- Looks like he is preparing for the next elections. Seems like this is the only developmental work we are entitled for. We are damn lucky !!
The list can go on.
This is not just about chief minister or prime minister or zilla parishad member or some local leader. Unless we have transparency of information and common person has access to it, how do we rate any person for their job. We shouldn't speculate or form opinion on the fly.
Another dangerous precedence is biased journalism. These days when every other politician seems to have a TV channel or newspaper of his own. How does a commoner get a right information. Very dangerous precedence indeed. And that is where bills like Right To Information act would be very helpful. But it wouldn't be enough. It is helpful on need basis.
But you need an unbiased coverage of news. which is still a challenge today.
Well having drifted from main topic of discussion of corruption. Lets resume it.
Corruption is broad topic which originates right from our house hold and reaches to highest order of administration (till prime minister).
It can be of Administrative corruption or at corporate level corruption or political corruption. The dangerous precedence is combination and nexus among these entities combined with external establishments. We will leave out underworld and other organized criminal organizations for now.
Lets start with
Administrative corruption (aka Bureaucrat corruption) :
Take a case where a small farmer having lost a crop(tills a land less than one acre) goes to village surpanch or local MRO or Public information Officer for details regarding the subsidy announced by government for farmers who lost their crops due to some calamity.
The low level bureaucrats in the pretext of helping this farmer would devoid him of his subsidy and might pay him paltry ridiculous amount (in some cases nothing) while pocketing sizable amount for himself Or we would have seen many cases of bribe seeking in public establishments such as RTO, Sub Registrar office, Customs, Excise, Public Hospitals, Primary Health Care Centers, Drug and Pharmacy, Food Corporation of India, Sports Ministry, Arts and the list goes on.
Although every one in the bureaucracy chain may not be corrupt. By and large the maggots of money are sure to suck every rupee as bribe for performing their job regularly. This is part of Administrative corruption.
Corporate Corruption:
Big Corporate giants can influence the political leaders of our country in their policy making which would favor the corporates in their business deals. Classic example of this is Nira Radia tapes disclosing how corporate lobby influences political circles in critical decisions.
US is another country which has been run (implicitly) by lobbyists for quite some time.
Imagine a Multi Billion dollar pharmaceutical company aspiring to release a life saving drug to the market which is in high demand. As per regulations, It is bound to invest millions/billions of dollars in conducting clinical trials before releasing the drug to the market. But we are aware pf many critical and crucial drugs which are already released in the market which has fatal side effects. How did these drugs got their license and permission to release to the consumer market ?
Corruption in Journalism :
We have to understand that the very source of information should be questioned these days. The quality of journalism in print media houses as well as television broadcast journalism is at all time low. Most of these establishments have lost their credibility in publishing and sharing the right information to masses. Most of them have vested interests in publishing information related to any matter.
Have you seen any non doordarshan, satellite news channel airing information about
say RTI. How do we use it OR say information about our future PM , the great dynasty heir Rahul Gandhi as to why he was detained by FBI few years ago in US airport for allegedly carrying hundreds of thousands of dollars or say about Farmers suicide (is it only because they lost the crops to floods? no, that is only partially correct, most of them resorted to the extreme means when they realized that their yield doesn't fetch the money that they thought it would when they sowed the grains. The decision of food prices is at mercy of lobbyists and middlemen inflating/deflating the prices for their selfish gains) or say documentary about the government schools in India or education system in general etc. the list goes on. Some of these impact our livelihoods day in and day out.
We have right to information and right to correct and unbiased information.
Regards,
Bharath
