Corruption – Are You A Supporter?

There have been innumerable cases of corruption – big and small. The Bofors Scam in the 1980s had brought down the then Government – the kickbacks were estimated to be Rs 41 crores. Things have become bigger – in the last 12 months alone, multiple scams (2G, Common Wealth, etc.) totaling more than Rs 1 lakh crore have been unearthed!
One thing is common – hardly anyone gets punished for being caught in a scam. At the most, there is some temporary setback like resigning from a post, raids, being questioned by investigating agencies, some time in judicial custody, etc. Have you wondered what happens to the money that was stolen? It remains stolen – there is no effort to bring it back.
Three things shape our behavior – Values help us to do the right thing, to be ethical. The law of the land defines the things that are illegal. When this does not work, the consequences give a clear message that unlawful behavior will not be tolerated. It creates a fear of punishment if caught doing something wrong.
Today, in India, there is no fear. Why? Because no one gets punished. In fact, the greed has been increasing day by day. People have become brazen, and the quantum and size of corruption related incidents is increasing exponentially.
At some point in our life, we have come face to face with corruption – and got frustrated and angry – and complained and cried – why does this happen! If you gave in, it would have made you guilty and full of anger. If you stood up, the things would have gotten tougher, and it may have required a lot of energy and patience before your job got done, if it did. But you would have felt good, but still wondered – why does one have to fight just to be right?
When talking about corruption, the common man is generally helpless. Our action is generally restricted to complaining in our drawing rooms and intense debates on the television and media. However, no positive change seems to be happening.
However, we do have an opportunity! The India Against Corruption is a Citizen’s Movement started by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Baba Ram Dev, Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi, Shanti Bhushan and many more. And they have come up with a specific plan – to help enact the right legislation and have drafted Anti Corruption Bill and the Lokayukta Bill. And there is a single goal at this time – to convert these into law. See http://www.indiaagainstcorruption.org/ – there are crisp details including how the current drafts of these Bills are just a lip service, an eye-wash. There is analysis of what is lacking – the drafts are not proposing enough teeth. India Against Corruption has done research and taken inspiration from successful models, especially what transformed Hong Kong.
For the last 42 years, these Bills have been languishing – almost all political parties have formed governments, but these Bills have not come into force. The political parties are very quick about throwing stones on instances of corruption in other political parties – their sole motive is to bring them down and form the government. None of the political parties are interested in really tackling and removing corruption. These Bills will actually make them accountable!!
If you are reading this, chances are that your economical position is amongst the top 10% in India. The people who suffer are the ones who are at the bottom of the pyramid – the money meant for them gets siphoned and they remain poor – and struggle for basic needs of food, water, health, shelter and education.
Here are 3 things YOU CAN DO to Make A Difference:
1. Read some basic details on tackling corruption on http://www.indiaagainstcorruption.org/
2. Join India Against Corruption on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/IndiACor
3. Join The March on Jan 30 at 1.00pm – Come to Ram Lila Maidan, New Delhi at 1.00pm
I am sending this to 1000 friends and colleagues. If each of these people send it to 50 people each, who in turn send it to 50 people each, this would reach to 25,00,000 people. Wow!
• 25 lac people will become aware that Corruption can be tackled, and there is something they can do.
• If only 10% of the people actually joined the movement on Facebook, we would have 2.5 lakh new supporters of India Against Corruption.
• And if only 1% people join the march on Jan 30, we would have 25,000 people in the march. It is rare to have 25,000 together for something like this – what an impact it would have – and hopefully inspire other citizens, media and NGOs to join.

Surely, the problem will not be solved on Jan 30 – it will be a long haul – tough and challenging. But a beginning would have been made – the longest of journeys begin with the first step.

Step 1 would take 15 minutes.
Step 2 would take 5 minutes.
Step 2a (send it to 50 friends) would take 10 minutes.
Step 3 would take 4 hours (including commuting time).

Are you willing to spend 4.5 hours this month to be M.A.D. – to Make A Difference to your country?
As Sri Sri Ravi Shankar says – 98% of the people are good, concerned but don’t generally take action. The 2% ‘bad’ people are action oriented – great on execution. Can we, the 98%, not take action this time?

If you do nothing about this, you have actually made a decision not to do something about corruption. And are actually supporting it indirectly!

Jai Hind! See you there!