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 



. .