Sunday, March 1, 2009

An ailing nation

If I had to pick the greatest sickness in our country today, I wd unhesitatingly say "corruption." Its so all-pervading, so fundamental, so much a part of everyday life that no one seems to want to address it anymore.

And it escalates up the ladder; I recently learned the 'rate list' starting from a simple police constable on the street, through to the mla's and ministers. Why wd they give a damn about the common man with so much money at stake? They wd much rather ensure that they stash away enough wealth to support ten generations of their families!

In the scale of wealth that changes hands in the upper echelons, you and I don't matter, my friends. It is unrealistic to expect a change to come from within such a system. And its funny how everyone gets turned on by Munnabhai's Gandhigiri and fumes at the Mumbai terror attacks, but goes back to paying bribes the very next day!

In other countries, politicians are public servants, who get up each morning and go to work to formulate and implement policies that make people's lives easier, and take their country forward. We are still struggling with basic issues of education and age-old value systems that have resisted upgradation for centuries. I long for the day when a large percentage of our population can happily scoff at any idiot who needs to ask for a bribe to simply do a job that he is anyways being paid to do....


Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device
Posted by Vikram Hazra

12 comments:

  1. Jgd dada ,
    You just scooped out the words from my mouth.Dada don't you think the agitation shown by people from all across after the 9/11 or The gift a pink chaadi to muthalik is a sign that people have woken to brutality and dictatorship.I think we are already on the path ,just need a government which thinks the way we do. Its time now to bring in the "CHANGE".

    Jaigurudev !!!!!!!!
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  2. Let's try not to give bribe too. There are people who give money as gift just because the other person has done some good for him/her.

    Let's long together for the day when people happily?! scold at _those_ idiots.

    Pothi.
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  3. Jai GuruDEV!!

    Vikram JI -- you should please join us for the planned 5th pillar event against corruption - a National Seminar on the 15th of August 2009 in Chennai!! It's good to see many of us interested in wiping this decease out..
    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Rakesh
    I wd love to come, plz send me an email and we'll follow it up
    JGD
    V
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  5. This change against corruption will take time. It will happen one by one only. corruption reminds me of the grass root level. bus conductors dont give back the change for 2 rs , 5 rs etc in buses. if we let go gradually, they just take it for granted and at the end of the day drink with the money and bash their wives.
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  6. We the decision-maker if we decide to stop otherwise we the follower if we follow the current.
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  7. JaiGuruDev !
    Bhaiya you are absolutely right...........we just need to change the system.............and for this we just need the togetherness of people......Art of Living is very much capable of this...........I'm sure we will indeed do this job too..............!
    JaiGuruDev !
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  8. Very truly said bhaiya,
    I was very fortunate to be present at The March Against Terrorism and Corruption in New Delhi on 1st March.
    Over thousands took a pledge to stop giving bribes and take steps to eradicate these two demons from society.
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  9. Dear Vikram ji. As a witness to student politics at IIT , I would say that the change will come only when the electorate evolves and stops equating corruption with smartness. The negative thing is that even students at India's elite institutions like IITs and IIMs associate negative politics, corruption and theft of common funds as some kind of smartness and quite often vote for such candidates in various elections. The only silver lining in this is that increasingly this perception is changing though the rate of change is still very slow.
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  10. Bhaiya i realize this fact too second ur opinion bt wud like 2 know wat should v do for its solution.As Guruji says corruption can be erradicated by making them spiritual,thn it ll take atleast a generation 2take a sigh of relief:)does it require so much time n patience?
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  11. Hi,

    While I completely agree that corruption should stop, I was also wondering why it hasn’t for ages now. Corruption and Bribing (which is a diluted form of corruption), is more or less always associated with the Government, which is unfortunate as well as not completely true. With my experience, I feel we indulge in corruption for either getting something out of turn or getting out of a situation. More often than not it is getting out of a situation. Events like jumping a signal (albeit unintentional), using the phone while driving, wrong turns etc., draw us to these situations. We end up tipping the Cop more so because we are given the impression that the legal process is cumbersome, complicated and cash heavy. Personally, one of the days I was stopped (not caught!) by the Cop for taking a wrong U turn. I had decided I will not tip the Cop. I was asked to hand over the Driving licence against which I was given a Receipt and advised that I should visit the Traffic Police Office nearby, pay the fine and collect my Licence. I was pleasantly surprised at the simplicity of the process the next day when I visited the Traffic Police Office. It took me Rs.100/- as Fine and the entire process was over in 5 minutes.

    Corruption can stop in Government Administration only if the common man has knowledge of the government rules and where the rules are simplified to implement. As regards corruption in other areas, it is a mindset which can change only with the intention of the person behind the authority.

    Regards
    Swami
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  12. JGD!

    I think one key difference between public office holders in our country and others is the attitude of the people. Which ever nation i hv been to, people have the attitude: how do i make my country to progress, how can i make my country the best. Here in India, we care about ourselves only at most extends to my family or my community, lately my company. It is a different matter why our people are like that (briefly, the pressures put on limited resources by uncontrolled population is one of the explainations). The fact remains all Indians are self-centered and we are fractured as a nation. May be democracy as an institution in a way strokes the disconnect because it allows everyone to voice their concerns and celebrate their individuality. But we have never been one, united group of people throughout history except when we were forced militarily. diversity is our weakness, unity in diversity would be the strength, which is waning today. We have a serious crisis of leadership in this country to galvanize 1.2 billion people. Lets find a leader to lead India to a brighter future.

    Regards,
    Nikunj
    ReplyDelete

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