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"I would go to the length of giving the whole congress party a decent burial, rather than put up with the corruption that is rampant." --- Mahatma Gandhi. May 1939 in Hyderabad.
.A bribe here ,a payment there.Our need to suckle the right udders to move ahead in the system has always been the passport to success in India.The corruption is Nauseous and all permeating.Its everywhere.We have become experts at this form of Jugaad..It need not have to be this way.We are currently at the cusp of some brilliant and much needed avtivism.Very exciting times indeed and we are lucky to be part of it.The government is scared and pushed to the wall and it knows there is a support base that is widespread across different sections of the society.
It all comes down to a strong Anti corruption Bill or the Jan lokpal bill.There are two drafts doing the rounds.One by th egovernment and one by the civil society.The government draft is a joke.No im serious.It might as well be used as toilet paper.It doesnt cover anybody except the poor clerk.The IAS/IFS/IRS officers are out,P.M is out,M.P' s and Ministers are out..so who does it cover?Why cant the govt ubderstand that passing the Lokpal bill will cause it immense long term benefits.It will be like a shining armour it has won and it will ensure its winnability for elections to come..
In response to accusation of this movement being extraconstitutional and undermines Parliament allow me to remind my readers that 150 M.P'S currently have criminal cases pending against them and 196 M.P'S have corruption related charges.Right allow these guys to creat a law that will decrease corruption.64 years and no law was passed.The lokpal has been introduced 3 times before and beuracratic red tape killed it in the standing comittee.What guarentee can the government give taht this will time the lokpal will not suffer a still born destiny like the 3 bills before it.?The 5 members of the lokpal drafting commitee Mr.Hazare-the activist..Mr.Arvind Kejriwal-Activist and Magsaysay award winner,Mr. Shanti and Mr.Prashanth Bhushan- two eminent lawyers and Retired Supreme court Judge-Justice Santosh Hegde.These are people who have already proved themselves to be incorruptible and have shown that they have the expertise and teh Base.Remember The indian constitution was also drafted by eminent people who were unelected but were uncorruptible.The government says you cant just fast and stuff a bill down its throat.I would like to ask,if it didnt want it this way why wasnt this done through legislative means for the last 64 years out of which the Congress party has been in power for almost 54 years.I have friends who say corruption is okay but atleast some development is taking place.I'd like to ask what kind of development is this.The sole reason India is developing is because we are enjoying our demographic divident where more people are in the market tahn out of it.We are a poor country so naturally our growth rates will be high.Get this we lose 30 billion dollars a year to corruption.Thats 1 lakh 35 thousand crores a year.This movemen was inevitable .All it needed was a flag bearer.And now we have one.The common man.
We live in very exciting times.No doubt about it. India has now reached a stage where we are transitioning from a low income country to a lower-Middle income country.In 15 years we will go from being the 10th Largest economy in the world to the 3rd largest.An unprecedent rise for a democratic country of our size.The next 15 years undeniably are going to be the most exciting phase of India's Rise.Such quick rise will cause a lot of new money and this should be under a strong lokpal.With Mandal Politics finally dying,Roti makan Sadak and Bijli all parts of the development plank have started taking centrestage and deciding the way we vote.A strong Lokpal bill will NOT remove corruption.But it will bring in much much more transparency and accountability which in turn will decrease corruption by upto 60 percent according to multiple surveys.
As a doctor I can say that a strong lokapal bill will bring in transparency which will allow removal not performing doctors ,it will ensure wider healthcare at cheaper rates for the poor.Money which would have gone into the hands of a corrupt politician could be diverted for healht and education.No more fake medicines,Money for admissions and the worksThis should free people for self empowerment rather tahn being stuck in distractions like hospital bills.
This has been my best Independence day where i got to be a part of the movement,albeit small.But its a start.Have you?
Jai Hind.
http://www.indiaagainstcorruption.org/
The views expressed above are the sole Opinion of the writer.You can contact him via the Guestbook.
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