I was all set to put down some more of my comments on my India trip for my blog, but as I scanned my Facebook this morning something more important and urgent popped up: Lakshmi Somasundar’s posting of Anna Hazare’s video. Looking at him you feel as though he is Shastriji and Gandhiji rolled into one; listening to him is so mesmerizing you want to say “OK I am right behind you, tell me what you want me to do”.
What Anna Hazare embarked on is almost an impossible task, just like a cancer for which there is no cure. Corruption is so in-bred into the core our society you don’t know where to start to tackle the problem. For people of all walks of life, from the lowliest civil servant to multi-millionaire businessmen and politicians, corruption has become a way of life. Because of that they get to own land, buildings, gold, tons of cash, and foreign bank accounts. So what is the incentive for them to give this up and change?
There are anti-corruption laws in force right now; however, you only read about a case a month where some poor unlucky, uncooperative, Bakra is arrested and charged. Making more laws may not be the answer. How is this going to work if all the law makers and law enforcers are on the take? The lawmakers would never pass such a law, and even if they do, it will be full of loop holes so big you could drive through them. Why would anybody want to be a Politician, an Assemblyman, or a Member of the Parliament? Not for the pay and the benefits, and certainly not for the burning desire to serve the people. The 1.2 billion population is being held captive and trodden upon by the small yet powerful tyrant minority of civil servants, government employees and elected officials. That is not to say there is no corruption in the private sector but I dare say that springs from the former group which has the power to grant permits and overlook the breaking of the law.
The solution is being presented us now in the form of an opportunity to take the lead from Anna Hazare. Radical moves such as civil disobedience and spreading more Zero-Rupee notes might get the ball rolling. One expensive yet possibly effective move is to invalidate all current Rupee currency and issue entirely new currency, exchangeable with legal and valid explanation of the origin of your rupees.
I don’t pretend I have the answers. I only know that I am frustrated like most others. Corruption is such a deep rooted and a complex problem it takes a leader with moral authority to spark the will of the people. Somebody who will lead by example, stir the national conscience, spark a national debate in search of solutions, nothing sort of a peaceful but powerful revolution.
Nothing short of a reappearance of Gandhiji would accomplish this. But then, we may be looking at one now. God Bless Anna Hazare
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