The Language of Crusaders

The year 2014 is a crucial one for India. It is election year. Whoever wins, whatever the outcome, I feel I'd like to air one grouse. 

Corruption is high on the agenda. Reams have been written about, spoken about and discussed by everyone. The discussions continue unabated. It is wonderful that the common Indian citizen has started speaking out boldly. There was a time, as recently as the nineties, when only a very few used to speak out. The rest of us used to rail and rant, but within the confines and safety of our four walls. And then, four or five courageous individuals told us exactly what loopholes the politicians were using in the law to get away with siphoning off crores of rupees and for gagging the whistle blowers.

I understand the ordinary person is disgusted with the looting of the Indian treasury. Just to give one example, they’ve seen individuals start in politics with modest homes to their names and within a couple of years, move to palatial houses.

I understand the anger.

So many of us have come together to fight this common enemy. We are from disparate backgrounds and we’ve come together because we want the same outcome – the eradication of this blatant looting.

What is my grouse? It is about the discussions at the "India Against Corruption's (IAC's) fb and other sites. 

Yes, we feel a natural affinity towards members of our group. We want the identical same thing. 

Yes, we now have two plans of action to move forward where previously we had one. Some of us believe we can make politicians accountable with dharnas, anshans, fasts and protest marches while others believe we've tried that route and by itself, it hasn't worked. It needs another dimension as well where the common educated and respected Indians (retired chief justices, social activists and others) introduce those accountability laws themselves - from within – by becoming politicians; that the politicians of today will never, of their own accord, allow a law that demands accountability from the corrupt to be passed. Under such a law they would be the first to be punished.

Yes, I understand there are staunch supporters of each of the two current major parties (ruling and opposition) who join in the discussions online so that they don't pass up the opportunity to bad mouth each other or to bad mouth the IAC in the hope of getting a rise out of IAC supporters.

And yes, many of these bad mouthers are staunch supporters of IAC too.

Anyone can understand people having heated discussions.  I am not squeamish about people showing their loyalty, prejudice, preferences or anger. But the stream of filth that continues to plague these discussions, words like "bhos*i " and more used to attack individuals... this has got to stop. 

The more decent individuals either ignore such comments or appeal to the offenders to stop. Neither of these two strategies seems to be working. The filth continues unabated.

Such people do a lot of harm to their own case. And if they are on the IAC forum, that’s who they harm. Their disgusting language is met with a dignified silence from the corrupt politicians they foul mouth. As a result, the corrupt come out smelling of roses - their wrong doings get sidelined.

And tomorrow, if anything goes wrong, these foul mouthers are the very individuals who will be difficult to contain. They blow their tops during discussions – what chance that anyone can contain them in any other situation? Why wait that long - wily and seasoned politicians who don't want the IAC to get into politics on the platform of corruption (too popular with the hoi polloi and too dangerous for them?) are always on the look out to stir up trouble. And a volatile few play right into their hands.

Things are looking good for IAC. People admire them for their courage and for explaining exactly where and how corruption has taken place. Here are Arvind Kejriwal's tapes (in Hindi) explaining what each of fifteen politicians has done. I think they are worth a visit.

Let's not rock the boat. Lets nip the bad mouthing right now. I wish I knew how. Suggestions welcome. 
 

Natural Laws That Govern Human Growth

If there is one thing I can’t abide by, it is cunning. All politicians believe they ought to be just that. Or someone more cunning will be ready to usurp their place, position and privilege. They call it "being canny".
 

Earlier, while ordinary people were constrained by their inability to talk to others all over the world, politicians harped on the “preserve my culture” theme (divide and rule?). But suddenly, we are all connected. People from Brazil have access to what people in Maharashtra think. People in the UK know what really worries people in India. As a result, either some countries have tried to contain that connectivity or people have started looking at their politicians’ rhetoric with jaundiced eyes.

To my mind, this is great. It means the beginning of the end of the world order as we know it. (It could even be the beginning of the end of demarcations of countries although not quite yet!) It is back to the beginnings - we are one race. Our humanness and our humanity don’t change wherever we are born or whoever we are born to. Our culture, language or religion is hugely dependent on where we are born. Our traditions - how we do things, what we eat, what we wear, what we celebrate varies because of the fact that we are in a certain part of the world and born to certain parents - it is pure chance. (In India, because of centuries of association with others, we celebrate many different traditions from various cultures - we even have public holidays for many festivals celebrated in different cultures) And now, thanks to our being able to talk to just about anyone from the rest of the world, we realise first hand, how similar we are in spite of our cultures.

Politicians claim that they work for the good of the people and country. They don’t mention how much self interest and self preservation enters the picture. Except, in India it is blatant and to a degree, unsurpassed. All their energies are focused on how to extract something for themselves from everything. With so many politicians in power and in the opposition doing just that, with each of them extracting so much from the providers of goods and services for their own pockets, their “cut” is an expense passed on to the consumer – you and I. The common person pays through their nose for every service and for any goods. 

Of course, politicians aren't the only ones to blame. I’d like to think through an imaginary example with you: A wants to make something and the by-product is not good for the air we breathe. He goes to the person in power who says, “I’ll overlook that but, what’s in it for me?” There are three routes open to A. Can the project, give the bribe or ensure the by-product isn’t harmful to the environment. 

·        If A decides to give the bribe, these might be the possible outcomes.

o   He starts the factory and rakes in the profits.

o   He and millions like him might be making the air we breathe too polluted. According to the UN, the extent of pollution in India is far above the danger level already.

o   The bribe demanding politician might decide to increase his cut.
By now A might realise it might have been cheaper in the first place to take that one extra step to convert the bad by-product into something that’s good for the environment.

o   But, that would mean selling the product at a more expensive price than the competition who would probably have bribed the same politician to dispense licences for similar factories.

He might decide to take the politician and / or the competition to court for unfair practices. Yeah right. What checks and balances are there for politicians? If he doesn’t get his cut, the politician will simply refuse the licence to A, whether his product and by-products are environmentally friendly or not. A has no recourse to justice as politicians have their own people in our judiciary and the police. With the help of goons in their pay they’ve subdued the people. Their tentacles are everywhere.

A might decide to let the ordinary person know what’s happening but the ordinary person is too indifferent or apathetic. Besides he or she feels they aren’t such fools that they’ll fall for that line. Why should they buy from A, when B sells the same product cheaper?

Our entire mindset, from the politician to the business person to the ordinary person needs to change. But that is easier said than done. It is a very slow process. Take the other example of the various projects to uplift the poor. They sound quite wonderful on paper. Most of the cash that has been earmarked for these projects is usurped by people who are well off in collusion with local politicians. How do we ensure the poor, who are actually targeted, benefit from these projects? 

This curse of corruption has to be rooted out before it sucks India and ordinary Indians dry. To my mind, this scenario can change to a great degree if there are proper checks and balances on politicians. Only checks and balances will bring about rapid change. In the mean time and side by side, we may try changing the moral fibre of our people. 

The late Stephen Covey had this to say – Principles that govern human growth and happiness are natural laws that are woven into the fabric of every civilized society throughout history and comprise the roots of every family and institution that has endured and prospered. The degree to which people in a society recognise and live in harmony with these principles moves them toward either

• survival and stability or

• disintegration and destruction.

The principles he was talking about? Most humans know them instinctively. Some of them are truth, honesty, integrity, a sense of justice and moral courage. Wonder if any of our current batch of politicians have at least one of these qualities. But more than that, I wonder if we have the moral courage to vote for the ones who do, in 2014.

So many people have spoken about the many guises of corruption in India that I thought I’d put up a few links.

·        http://rajendrak-hottopic.blogspot.in/ This blogger has quoted Noam Chomsky who’s spoken about the media’s unethical behaviour and how news may not be true at all. He advises us to keep our eyes, ears and mind open.

·        Superb article on what is required to bring about change in our system and it isn’t superheroes. It is the common Indian citizen being non gullible and courageous. http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cursor/entry/anna-comes-down-to-earth.

·       A very recent article in the Economic Times titled “How Corruption in Coal Is Closely Linked to Political Funding” http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/energy/power/how-corruption-in-coal-is-closely-linked-to-political-funding/articleshow/15381252.cms?


  Why is there a shortage of railway tickets during our festive season? Read what the touts do. http://ibnlive.in.com/news/exposed-festive-season-shortage-of-railway-tickets/281066-3.html 



. .

Why (We Feel We Should) Post Regularly on Our Blog

What I mean is, why has that golden nugget been dinned into my head and probably yours? I’ve regurgitated the wisdom, passed it on and encouraged it to go viral. But on thinking about it, I feel I mightn’t have given it enough thought. And then again, who am I to refute it when

• every search engine guru says that in order to make our presence felt in blogosphere we should write a post at least once a week if not more? 
• blogging networks promote the same wisdom? They reckon the busier their network, the more Google will promote it. They believe it is in their interest that there should be non-stop activity through their blogger members

• writing posts, 
•  conversing with other bloggers and 
•  entering competitions

They try everything in their power to promote activity so that their network shows up on the first page of Google’s search engine. They are the owners of a blogging platform and individual bloggers are their industrious bees.

With a zillion bloggers on the internet, that's a zillion posts a week competing for attention. What a glut. A zillion posts on every topic under the sun – some repeated over and over. And over. To test this theory, I searched Google for the following phrase – why post regularly on your blog – and guess what? There were about 67,700,000 results in 0.16 seconds. Most had written on why we should and how we should and a few on why we shouldn’t.

I've thought long and hard about this and come to the conclusion that I enjoy having a presence on the net but if that involves even a hint of frenzied, desperate action, I don’t enjoy it. Writing a post week after week means searching for a worthy topic to discuss week after week. Why? Not because I want to but because I believe Google and others want me to. Some will reward me with a rank and others, with my blog showing up in search engines on the first page. What will that get me? Very gratifying attention. For a nanosecond (as someone I've quoted later in this post, has pointed out).

So I’ve done my bit by churning out a post with the right keywords and tweaked for SEO to please Google (and others). Now I can sit back on my laurels and reap the rewards. Gosh no! I’ve got to comment on posts to please them too. If commenting on someone’s post is only so that they comment on mine, if I desperately want Google to know I am a busy bee with forward, backward and sideways links to my credit, is it a compliment to the post I’ve just read and commented on? Not really. I posted the comment to curry favour with Google. I hasten to declare I am not sitting in judgement but if that is the case, I have two questions -

Who, therefore, controls my actions on the net? And who am I trying to establish a worthwhile relationship with?


The ones whose blogs I really enjoy, I subscribe to. Whether they write once a month or once every three months, I’d come to know and happily head on over to at least read and often, to comment. But do I remember what they wrote about in previous posts? Very rarely. But I remember one thing for sure - that particular blogger writes something that consistently resonates with me.

Does Google remember their posts? Yes. It will throw up their post if it has value and is tweaked for keywords and search terms again and again. That is why it is so important for them to, first and foremost, write quality content. And that takes time, effort and their full engagement – heart and mind. If they must churn out a post every week, how do they keep that integrity intact?

Ah, I hear you say - at least it reminds Google of my existence. But, I counter, it makes inroads into your time. There’s so much to do and if you spend all your time blogging and reading other blogs, responding to comments on yours and leaving comments on theirs, you end up feeling spent, exhausted and caught up in a mindless, meaningless spiral.

It somehow reminds me of my generation hell bent on acquiring an academic degree. We might end up in a job that makes absolutely no use of our degree but a degree we must have.

As someone said here, People are flooded with information. There is noise everywhere. Long gone are the days where you need to be in front of people every single day. Posting regularly might get you high up on Google’s rankings for a few days but the positions will be short lived. 

Is it really worth the time and effort? That is for each blogger to decide. (I know there are some who are paid to advertise goods or services on their blogs. It isn’t them I’m talking to at all.)

Of late I have seen a few really worthwhile bloggers hang up their blogging shoes. Between jumping off and spinning on there is the option of slowing down.

Also, I have to ask - do they leave a vacuum? That depends on the content of each of their posts and what it meant to us (not to anyone else). We, humans, will definitely miss some of them. As for Google, the world of blogging goes on - a merry-go-round that makes you feel dizzy. There’s more and more .... and more churned out hourly. And Google is busy crawling them all.

I continue to write as I enjoy writing, especially when something disturbs me or when my creativity decides to come out of hiding. I continue to long for kindred souls who feel the same as I do in my posts and I love it when they respond. But I write only if I have something of my own to say; something I feel an urgent need to share. Then the writing is done in minutes. This excludes the edits and re re re re edits till I feel satisfied I’ve said my piece and conveyed exactly what I want to. That, for me, takes a while. As for commenting on other blogs, in my case it is random and disorganised. But, to my logical mind (if I even have one), reading and responding to one or two posts a day is time reasonably and well spent.

Even if we slow down there will still be enough on the net to keep us informed. It will simply be less dross, less repeats and more golden nuggets, unique and compelling. Wonder if you can ever change your formulas to recognise that, Google. After all, you lack the one important quality – that of being human and understanding humans. Whether you do or whether you don’t, this human isn’t planning on posting once a week and is willing to take the consequences. I have enough deadlines to contend with without adding yet another.

I’d like to dedicate this post to “India Against Corruption”. They’ve started a fast at Jantar Mantar this week asking for a probe against corrupt individuals who’ve siphoned off a huge chunk of the Indian tax payer funds for themselves. 

The connection between their fast and this post is only this. The corrupt individuals are ministers in power and 

There seems to be a clamp down on the media so that this monumental effort by India Against Corruption goes unreported and unnoticed by most Indians. 

There are huge crowds at Jantar Mantar supporting IAC. Here’s a link – http://www.granslive.com/public/showEvent?eventId=6cc031b0-0608-47c4-921a-d5ae35f9fd2e - see the event live for yourselves. 

If nothing, it helps us understand what is involved in staging protests, how hard it is and how willing IAC and its members are to give of their time and effort so that fifteen ministers who have been accused of siphoning off huge sums by our country are held accountable. This protest is to ensure they are probed by an independent panel and not by their own cronies or by organisations they themselves head. In between the live protest, you can see Arvind Kejriwal explaining what exactly they’ve been accused of, who is sitting on the panel that is supposed to probe their crimes and what IAC is demanding should happen so that the probe and its findings are swift (not delayed with one weak excuse after another) and fair. 

One thing everyone acknowledges is that IAC and its members are doing this for their country rather than for themselves.

Please feel free to share the links or dedicate your next post to bringing attention to this fast (in spite of the stifled Indian media) if you believe these fifteen ministers (http://news.indiaagainstcorruption.org/iac_new/index.php/fast-against-corruption) should be probed as IAC says they should be. The probes are for hundreds of crores of rupees where
1 crore = Rs.10,000,000 or approximately USD 209,000 – an amount most of us won’t see as individual bank balances in our lifetimes.

Here’s a facebook link - https://www.facebook.com/FinalWarAgainstCorruption - “Like” it if you want to show support.



.

A Brilliant Idea by India Against Corruption

In 2011, 

from the site http://www.indiaagainstcorruption.org

• in spite of the majority of ordinary Indians wanting a strong anti-corruption bill
• in spite of India Against Corruption (IAC) and hundreds of thousands of Indians out on the streets demanding one
• in spite of the government promising one if Anna Hazare, the head of IAC, stopped his fasts

the government eventually came up with such a weak version of the bill that the ultimate decision of policing corrupt individuals in government and ensuring their accountability, remained in the hands of ..... you guessed it, the government.

Today, IAC knows exactly what it is up against – the deadly curse of endemic corruption in too many individuals in politics. It is a sobering thought that it won’t be easy to get rid of. But the IAC have come up with a brilliant plan.

They acknowledge they've learnt a lot from last year. For example, they would like the ability to be directly in touch with the masses. Often, last year, ordinary members wanted some of their doubts clarified and questions answered and the core team were dependent on the media to do so. Whilst acknowledging their gratitude to the media for keeping them in the news, IAC also realised that often, the media was unable to write or speak about their reports in their entirety.  These were drip fed to the public losing their impact and often, even the true meaning of what the core team had said was lost. The main issue, therefore, was to find a way to maintain direct contact between the public and the core team. 

This is what IAC have come up with:

• ·       Volunteers to get groups of ordinary Indians together throughout India to listen to one topic a week.

• ·       This topic would be a Youtube discussion between the core team members.

• ·       This discussion would generate a lot of questions from ordinary Indians which would be noted by the organiser of their group.

• ·       These questions would then be passed on to the IAC core team through the helpline 97185 00606 or through the email address, indiaagainstcorruption.2010@gmail.com, by the organiser of each group.

• ·       The core team would then answer the questions they collect, to try and quell our doubts. 

If you'd like to be a volunteer, this is the site to visit:
http://www.indiaagainstcorruption.org/start-your-discussion-forum.html

All you'd be expected to do would be to get your group together, organise a meeting to watch the current IAC video, facilitate the discussion after and collect the questions that arise out of the discussion to pass on to the core team. You wouldn't be required to answer those questions. Those would be answered by the core team.

Another advantage of getting together with ordinary Indians like ourselves is the obvious one of discussing issues we care about firsthand - with other, like-minded people. Further down the road, we could easily come up with united action plans ourselves. Right now, once our doubts are clarified, the action plan would be decided by the core IAC team. 

Gives "social networking" a whole new meaning. 

.

Anticorruption Bill 2011 Postponed Again

The New Bill 2011 to fight corruption in India (the lokpal) has been an eagerly awaited non event - since the past sixty years! After Anna Hazare's hugely popular fast was ended with the government promising Anna that they would discuss the bill in the monsoon session of parliament in 2011, everyone had started hoping it would ATLAST become law. Unfortunately from the monsoon session it was carried forward to the winter session and at the last minute the Congress balked and backed out. "Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley also said that the government had choreographed chaos to dodge a vote." (see http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Lokpal-Bill-put-to-sleep-at-midnight/articleshow/11298043.cms)

Here's a short, award winning video on how corruption isplayed out in, and affects, India..

In any case, the government's version of the lokpal (anti-corruption bill) was weak. This is what an editorial in a respected Indian newspaper, "The Hindu", had to say about it."The Centre, which has retained administrative control (read: promotions, transfers, etc.) of the CBI via the Ministry of Personnel, knows better than most that he who pays the piper calls the tune.". 

One of my previous posts explains the problems in the present anti-corruption systems of India and the role of the CBI. Here's ten different people who've answered the following question - "why do many political parties in India question CBI's credibility from time to time?"
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101114114515AAYRZAP
All ten seem to agree that the CBI is used by the party in power to keep the opposition at bay:

Here's what I think the current government is scared of: An agency that polices the Congress plays right into the hands of the opposition. There are too many in the Congress and its coalition who've been tainted by corruption. Some of these politicians are influential. To have any of them under the scrutiny of an independent anti-corruption committee is to weaken and maybe even topple the coalition (UPI) government. The Congress is not about to jeopardise its hold on power.

The main opposition is the BJP - a right wing Hindu party. They would try their utmost, and probably succeed, in destabilising the ruling coalition. We all know there's corruption in those corridors too, apart from the non-secular politics they practice.

How does one eliminate the cancer of corruption then? What choices do the people have when neither party is free of corruption? when individuals from both treat tax payer money as their own? 

One option would be to look out for a third alternative to the current government+coalition partners and the opposition - perhaps an independent, someone totally new and inexperienced :-( BUT starting on a clean slate.

We'd have to wait till 2014 for that and we don't know what laws the government would try to push through before that to protect individual, influential looters.

Here's a suggestion from the former director of Infosys, Mohandas Pai - a split in the CBI - the wing that takes care of the opposition to government, and the wing that takes care of corruption. This is what he says: "The challenge in India for corruption cases has been the lack of investigation, the lack of resources and the lack of integrity in the investigation. If we don't want a Lokpal that is impotent, CBI needs to be under its control or it is not going to work." 

Justice V.N.Khare has expanded on this further in an interview with the Times of India. His reply to the following query by the times reporter, "Is there any merit in the Team Anna argument that the CBI should be brought under the Lokpal?" is as follows: I don't think that the entire CBI can be brought under the Lokpal. The CBI is a huge organisation whose investigative capabilities are used for so many things other than fighting corruption. At best you can put 50 or 60 CBI officers on deputation with the Lokpal. However, if the CBI is under the government and the government is the prosecutor, there is a clear conflict of interest in prosecuting government corruption. I believe the CBI should be autonomous in any case.

Which brings me to Team Anna's option: "India Against Corruption" (IAC) want an anti-corruption bill with a lot of teeth. They've drafted the Janlokpal bill. Team Anna’s demands include total independence of the CBI from the likelihood of government interference. Till team Anna came on the scene we knew about corruption in politics but we didn't know how these greedy individuals got away with siphoning off for themselves, what belonged to India and Indians. Team Anna made a lot of effort to expalin the loopholes in the anti-corruption systems. Who can deny what Prashant Bhushan, one of the members of Team Anna and one of the drafters of the Janlokpal bill had to say at Ramlila Grounds, Delhi,"This movement has forced the Government to pass a bill, however weak. It had to make a Joint committee, standing committee and then pass a bill. It is a weak bill, no doubt, but it is your pressure that made it happen." He said this before the government scuttled the bill yet again after the winter session of parliament.

IAC has shown us we need not feel so helpless - that we can, and must, agitate if we think the government won't bring in a strong anti-corruption bill. Government BY the people isn't only voting every four years and then letting those voted in have a field day looting India. I know lobbying is too hard and won't show results immediately. But if you believe there is rampant corruption that affects the ordianry people of India, it is worth making the effort.

There are some who feel team Anna's version of the bill would give too much power to the 9 member committee who would control the anti-corruption agencies. Arvind Kejriwal, from team Anna says that is a deliberate attempt to mislead the people; that the 9 member committee wouldn't have the power of impeaching anyone - just lodging the fir - the first information report. The impeachment procedure would remain unchanged and would be through the courts. (Listen from 2 minutes and 27 seconds of this Youtube video.)

I wonder what our cynics think of the version the government has put up - that bill, for starters, declares the government will pick the team that will police them. What's more, that team will be beholden to the government for promotions and transfers etc according to the newspaper editorial above. How can they not toe the government line? Also, what credibility does the government have now, after scuttling the bill again and again? Till we have a law to prevent or punish corruption, we've seen proof that they will continue looting the money Indians pay for India's safety, security, infrastracture, progress and the environment.

Everyone hopes the people of India win. We hope their hard earned money and taxes are used to benefit them and not greedy individual politicians. To make that hope a reality means making your voice heard. And whose voice is heard loud and clear? A billion lone (armchair) voices or a billion strong force?

My hope is that the eyes of the WORLD are trained on the non-violent movement. That can happen if more of us join the protests, making it clear as team Anna does, that our protest is against corruption - not against any political party.


Follow team Anna and India Against Corruption as they unfold their action plan once more.  And if you are able, join the protest.

India or US?

So many Indians living abroad feel like he did. My fear is this – what if I feel the same? I definitely don’t want to.

An Indian who was living in the States decided he wanted to go back to India and settle there. The family packed up and flew home with hope and excitement in their hearts. Within a year of reaching India, although he had all the trappings of a good life, he went back to the States. It wasn’t the life style that let him down. It was, he felt, the person India forced him to turn into. He was unable to deal with other, less fortunate human beings incessantly tapping him for loans; he was unable to tell whether they were lying or telling the truth with their tales of woe; it was the insensitivity of Indians laughing at the expense of people from other Indian communities; it was having to deal with unadulterated nosiness – for example, people wanting to know his sub caste so that they could fit him into a mould rather than see him as a unique person. He couldn’t handle it and went back to the States, defeated by it all. The article is worth visiting as are the thought provoking comments after. Here's the link -
http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/22/why-i-left-india-again/

 

So many Indians living abroad feel like he did. My fear is this – what if I feel the same? I definitely don’t want to.

Perhaps it doesn’t have to be like that. He dealt with work colleagues, his family, his daughter’s school principal, teachers and the home help and driver. They served a purpose – they were all there, in some form or the other, for him. And he for them.

What if he would’ve sought someone outside of his own or their needs? Would that have made a difference? More to the point, do I think that might make a difference to me? Spending time not only with people I need and who need me but with others who devote their energies to something outside of themselves? With someone who wants to make a difference, who fights to ensure every kid gets a basic education, a meal a day if they attend school, who tries to inform and educate the public on the environment so that the air we breathe, the water and soil we depend on are clean and don’t poison us?

There are many and varied NGOs and charities in India trying to make a difference. People who care. My search for “NGOs in India” resulted in quite a few links – here’s one: http://www.indianngos.com/  Ask them and they’ll tell you – once we are working for a cause we passionately espouse and meet others who feel as strongly about it, we tend to forget which community or sub caste individual members belong to. Our appreciation is for that individual’s dedication, wisdom, compassion and intelligence. In turn there is something in us that he or she appreciates.

Perhaps if more of us joined NGOs and charitable organisations the way we've joined "India Against Corruption", a movement to fight corrupt politicians who steal from the Indian treasury and get away with it, the more we give our time – as much as we decide we can spare for a cause that benefits others, the more we rise above ourselves, the happier we'll be within ourselves irrespective of where we are. Of late there's been talk of some NGOs using their organisations to convert black money to white. The solution is simple - Don't donate money till you are sure they are above board. Simply donate your TIME.

As Sumedh, the guy who started this introspection  rightly put it, it isn't India. It is us.

Credibility of Indian Politicians

What Platform will Indian Politicians Fight on in 2014? What rhetoric will they be able to spew out with conviction? 

The 1993 synchronised bombs in Mumbai left Indians in shock. The feelings uppermost in Indian minds were disbelief that anyone could hate us so much, and fear.  

Indian flag by gsagri04, open clipart

The attacks from gun totting Pakistanis in '98 left us reeling with the same feelings. But added to that was pride in the way Indians helped fellow human beings plus an awareness that our enemies wanted India to descend into chaos and a determination not to let that happen. Indian communities came together in a show of unity and strength. There was also a slow burning anger at the Indian government for taking so long to send help.

When the Zaveri Bazaar bombs went off in July this year, Indian anger at the government reached boiling point. Some government official tried to get a photo op. out of the whole hopeless mess - going to the scene of the bomb and giving a speech, calling Indians brave and suggesting the Indian spirit will survive. That was the final straw. Indian anger boiled over. They said "never mind our spirit, what are the government's plans for our safety?" and more words to that effect. here's one link out of millions - Bombed, Doomed and Living On 

Indians are aware that the first instinctive thought of any politician is to kill the opposition. Indians can live with that. They know leaders of major parties try and ensure that party line are followed. But safety is beyond petty party politics. Indians are angry that their safety and security isn't of paramount importance to our politicians. Political parties in any mature and responsible democracy throughout the world understand it is non-negotiable. This is possible in India too, according to http://ibnlive.in.com/news/devils-advocate-why-has-india-failed-to-combat-terror/183168-3.html 

The next elections are three years away. Can we afford to wait that long to ensure the safety and security of our country is on our politician radar screens? Indians need to see the two major Indian political parties hammer out differences on this vital issue now. Or, the Indian public is willing to look for someone who will - perhaps an independent. 

The other big issue is, of course, corruption. We've come to know how Indian MPs have been looting the Indian treasury. In states ruled by both major parties the degree of corruption is mind boggling. It involves lakhs of crores of rupees where 1 lakh crore is 

Sabsey bada Rupaia - Indian rupees by beshra, free clipart

Rs 1,000,000,000,000.
(At the current rate, that is 20,393,596,410 USD) 

And they get away because our anti-corruption agencies are hopelessly under-staffed, under-funded and not independent of the government. Files investigating MPs land on the desks of staff working under those very MPs. Who would investigate their boss? And there's more as explained by "India Against Corruption" or http://nevermindyaar.blogspot.com/p/india-against-corruption.html

The outrage and scorn for our MPs has boiled over. And the irony is that both major parties have declared in almost all their previous party manifestos they will fight ... you guessed it, corruption.

Here are a couple of links to Congress’s "common minimum programme" of 2004. http://pmindia.nic.in/cmp.pdf  straight from the PM’s office or http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3757269.stm from the BBC

A few points covered in the common minimum programme are, no privatisation, abolition of POTA (Prevention of Terrorism) that made the minorities feel threatened, uplifting the poor, education, economic reform and growth, women’s rights and corruption.

The BJP’s agenda in 2009 included life and job security to all citizens, prevent corruption and achieve speedy development. http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2009-04-08/mysore/28057435_1_bjp-leader-l-k-advani-prime-ministerial-candidate
 
Is life any safer in 2011? Has poverty been eradicated? What about the quality of the air Indians breathe, the soil we grow our crops in or the level of pollution in our waters - factors that directly impact our health and our doctors' bills? Our factories to a large extent, know they can easily bribe our politicians to let them continue breaking environment laws instead of ensuring what they spew out or empty out into our rivers and soil as by-products of their cash-making ventures, don't harm the environment. What about electricity grids for our villages? Or pucca roads in India. Are India’s poor any better off, women safer or terrorists less able to execute their anti-human plans in our country? Would the BJP guarantee the safety, security and independence of minorities and women? Would they re-introduce POTA?  Most important of all, are any of our politicians less corrupt or did both parties mean to be the exceptions to their corruption platforms? 

Indians blame most of these issues on weak anti-corruption laws that govern our politicians. Funds for any project are siphoned off by individuals, thereby compromising the said projects. Indians are harassed for bribes at every step. There is determination that a strong anti-corruption bill will be passed to curb the ability of politicians to loot Indian funds and get away with it.

Glib politician rhetoric 

• without a properly spelt out action plan, 
• without a proper budget and 
• without indications where exactly the funds for any glib promise will come from

will not easily take in an enlightened Indian public any more. 

Neither major party will be able to use "corruption and safety-security" as the platforms they fight the 2014 elections on. Indians have openly started heaping scorn and disgust on such speechifying from corrupt and callous politicians.

The only hope Indian politicians have is to put these two issues - corruption in politics and safety-security in India - in order, well before the elections.

.

Julian Hanton about India

Julian is a travel reporter who travelled to India. His closing comments on his video on India were,

The ever widening gap between the rich and the poor and the blurring lines between religion and business is what India will have to contend with in the very near future.

Why did he say that? When he travelled through India every poor person wanted his money which happens in all countries. But there are too many poor in India. The volume compounds the issue. Till people in power stop looting Indian tax payer money and instead spend it for the benefit of India and Indians poverty in India will never be addressed.

We've heard of scam after scam where huge sums of tax-payer money have been siphoned off by individuals; The newspapers and TV report it is lakhs of crores of rupees where 1 lakh crore=Rs 1,000,000,000,000.
we've heard how the Indian anti-corruption laws need changing so that a case against a corrupt person isn't addressed by people under the very person who has been charged with corruption;
we've heard of people demanding that every rupee illegally swallowed up by individuals should be returned;
we've started hearing of Indians, fed up of the level of corruption that is endemic in the country, starting to speak up;
we've heard of a huge movement, gathering momentum in India against corruption. We've started hoping again;
and of course, we've heard the government is fighting the ordinary people's desire to bring in the strong anti-corruption bill tooth and nail.

If you haven't heard of this movement - "India Against Corruption" and their action plan, here's the link: http://www.indiaagainstcorruption.org/

On a lighter note, this movement has gone viral. Here's a comment after the song "Mother" by Pink Floyd.
"Mother can I trust the government?" sing Pink Floyd, "Hell no!" says helen11937, "Just ask an INDIAN!"

Here's the link to the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBkTUzKAiXQ&NR=1



.



.

10 things to know about Anna Hazare's Jan Lokpal Bill

Did you know Anna introduced solar panels and wind mills in his village 25 years ago? Read on...

Copied and pasted from Danish Aftab’s post on the India Against Corruption Facebook Site.

 ‎

1.      Who is Anna Hazare? An ex-army man. Fought in the 1965 Indo-Pak War.

2.      What's so special about him? He built a village Ralegaon Siddhi in Ahmadnagar district, Maharashtra http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralegan_Siddhi.

3.      So what? This village is a self-sustained model village. Energy is produced in the village itself from solar power, biofuel and wind mills. In 1975, it used to be a poverty clad village. Now it is one of the richest villages in India. It has become a model for self-sustained, eco-friendly practices.  

4.      And...? This guy, Anna Hazare was awarded the “Padma Bhushan” and is a known figure for his social activities.

5.      Really? What is he fighting for? He is supporting a cause, the amendment of a law to curb corruption in India. How can that be possible? He is advocating for a Bill, The Jan Lokpal Bill (The Citizen Ombudsman’s Bill), that will form an autonomous authority who will make politicians (ministers), bureaucrats (IAS/IPS) accountable for their deeds. It's an entirely new thing, right..? In 1972, the bill was proposed by the then Law minister Mr. Shanti Bhushan. Since then it has been neglected by the politicians and some are trying to change the bill to suit their theft (corruption).

6.      Oh.. he is going on a hunger strike for the passing of a Bill ! How can that be possible in such a short span of time? The first thing he is asking for is: the government should come forward and announce that the bill is going to be passed.

7.      Next, they should make a joint committee to DRAFT the JAN LOKPAL BILL. 50% goverment participation and 50% public participation - because one can’t trust the government to independently create a bill that doesn’t suit them.

8.      Fine, What will happen when this bill is passed? A LokPal – a committee will be appointed at the centre. It will have autonomous charge, say like the Election Commission of India. In each and every state, a similar committee – the Lokayukta, will be appointed. The job of the Lokpal at the centre and the Lokayukta at the state levels will be to bring all individuals in the government accused of corruption, to trial within 1 year. Within 2 years, the guilty will be punished. Not like the Bofors scam or the Bhopal Gas Tragedy cases, that have been going on for the last 25 years without any result.

9.       Is he alone? Who else is there in the fight with Anna Hazare? Ex. IPS Kiran Bedi, RTI activist Arvind Kejriwalm, and just about every ordinary person. Prominent personalities like Aamir Khan and Shekhar Kapoor are supporting his cause too.  

10.   Ok, got it. What can we do? We can help spread his message.  How? By joining his website and facebook https://www.facebook.com/IndiACor sites, by actively commenting, sharing status messages, links, video, by believing in his cause and spreading the message and by understanding the flaws in the government's weak anti-corruption bill. He is fasting from 16^th August 2011 for a week. We are welcome to join the fast in a public place at any time (and stop at anytime). But he won’t stop until the government agrees to introduce the Jan Lokpal – a strong anti-corruption bill and not their weaker version which allows them to be the exceptions who do not come under the ambit of the bill.

(For a comparision of the government Lokpal Bill and the IAC's Jan Lokpal bills see

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0Bwgjs_Sh0LjJOGVkYTM3ZmQtODg4Mi00NjhkLTg0NGUtZmRlMGJiMDc2MWQ3&hl=en_US 

http://news.indiaagainstcorruption.org/?p=3319 
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-08-05/india/29854353_1_lokpal-bill-lokpal-law-team-anna 

The government jailed Anna before he could begin his fast but with a public outcry from his followers and others who called the government move unconstitutional, they were forced to relent and free him.

Let us support Anna Hazare and the cause for uprooting corruption from India. Let us hope that his Hunger Strike does not go in vain. Let us hope that he remains safe and well. Power to the people.

Here's what the BBC says about Anna http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-14525537



.