Dear Friends,
I am writing this post in response to a demand by my friend Mohit Lila that I should also propose a solution for the problem of corruption plaguing our country. Now, most people would not have made this demand to a person who writes a long article titled,"Why India Will Never Be Corruption Free". But Mohit-having known me for almost a decade now-is more aware than most others about the point that I was trying to make in my article. He has correctly realized that what I am trying to say is not that corruption does not have a cure. Actually, like most other problems created by and affecting humanity at large; corruption also has a cure. But in the Indian context, the cure to the problem of corruption is so difficult-almost impossible-to implement that I am inclined to prophesize that India will never be corruption free. Still, since a solution has been demanded from me, I will attempt to provide the same.
1) Creation of a No-Exception Organization: All the right thinking and upright people in India will have to come together and form a "No-Exception Organization". The members of this organization will pay their bills on time, obey the laws of the land, park their vehicles in designated parkings and generally try to maintain the conduct expected of an ideal citizen. This conduct will have to maintained not out of fear of prosecution but because it is the right thing to do. At the same time, the members of this organization will actively, non-violently and steadfastly oppose corrupt practices. For instance, when a shopkeeper offers to give a good without receipt, a member of this organization will offer to pay the tax due on the purchase and ask for the receipt. He will also try to counsel the shopkeeper about the importance of personal probity in the fight against corruption. I propose that this organization could be formed on-line in the beginning and as the numbers of the members grow, it could hold a national rally against corruption and corrupt practices. An important aspect of this organization would be that it would also welcome those who have been involved in corrupt practices in the past but are now willing to confess, repent and reform.
2) Death Penalty in cases of wanton and glaring corruption especially by officials at high places : On this issue we have to take a leaf out of the book of China. Recently it was reported in all the leading newspapers that Mayor of a province in China was convicted of wanton corruption and was sentenced to death. It is a well known fact that only deeply entrenched and palpable fear can check a phenomenon like corruption which is fueled by the most basic of human instincts-Greed. Corruption has to declared an anti-national activity on par with sedition and must attract the harshest of penalties. A person indulging in corruption must know that he could be paying with his life for his greed.
3) Special Fast Track Courts to try cases of corruption with daily hearings especially in serious cases like the 2-G and Commonwealth Scams: Corruption flourishes in our country because the corrupt know that they can delay the cases against them indefinitely. When delay takes place in such cases it becomes possible for those charged with corruption to influence the process of investigation against them. Given enough delay, governments change, officials change and the priorities of the public also change. What is a burning issue today, after ten years, becomes a non-issue because in the meanwhile several new issues crop up. So, delay in the administration of justice is the biggest impediment in the fight against corruption.
4) Special Agency to Investigate Cases of Corruption : With all due respect to the CBI, I feel that it is time that we had an investigating agency solely dedicated to and specializing in investigating cases of corruption. Corruption as a crime is very different in its nuances from a murder or a rape or a theft. Whats more, corruption may be twice as difficult to prove before a court of law when compared to a murder or a rape. The CBI at the moment handles all kinds of cases. In my view, it can only be considered a generalist organization. What is required is an organization specializing in investigating corruption and only corruption. Such an organization should be staffed with only the best and brightest officers with unimpeachable integrity. Only those exhibiting a missionary zeal against should be posted in this specialist organization. This organization should be headed by a visionary leader who is himself/herself beyond all doubt. The example of Delhi Metro shows what an organization focussed on its goals with a visionary leader at the helm can achieve in a short span of time.
5) Ensuring zero exceptions to the law of the land: What use is a law if it not implemented or, worse-still, selectively implemented ? I was driving down from Lucknow to Allahabad yesterday and I must have seen not less than ten vehicles-from two wheelers to cars-plying on the road without any numbers on their registration plates. Innumerable 'tempos' passed me which were badly overloaded with the driver practically hanging out of the driving seat. Several motorbikes passed which had complete families (upto 5 people at a time) riding on a single bike ! All these were blatant and daylight illegal activities. And yet no body checked or stopped the offenders. The fact of the matter is that in our great country, breaking the law has become almost a cultural phenomenon ! Once the people know that they can break laws and get away with it, rest assured that blatant and unchecked corruption will the end result of such a state of affairs. People of our country need to be taught DISCIPLINE. That can only be done by reducing the number of laws and ensuring strict compliance of those that are in force. A disciplined society is honest and an undisciplined one-corrupt.
6) Expunging the word "Caste" from the Constitution of India and Declaring Caste and Religion Based Politics As Anti-National: Its time we woke up to the fact that in any society there are no castes except for two-The Haves and the Have Nots !! Casteist politics is the tap root that feeds the tree of corruption. Its time we severed this root. It should be made illegal for politicians to ask for votes on the basis of caste, creed or religion and any politician asking for votes or campaigning on this plank overtly or covertly should be debarred from politics for the rest of his/her life. \
7) Praying to God that by some miracle we will get a leader at the helm of the country who has the will, the strength and the support to carry out the radical surgery the cancer of corruption requires: In the discussion above, I have given my solution to the problem of corruption. However, make no mistake, it will remain a solution on paper only. I am 99.999% sure that it will never be implemented. This belief is based on the fact that since Independence corruption has only increased in this country. This means that the general trend by the biggest leaders in our country has been to tolerate corruption. So, if this has been the trend, then why and how should we expect a sudden change in the fortunes of our country and in the mindset of our leaders now ? So unless and until Lord Krishna himself decides to take an avataar and implement the stringent and radical measures required to stamp out corruption from our country, I see no way that they can be implemented. This of course brings us back to square one. So, in a nut shell, corruption is a curable disease, but its cure is so radical and against the general character of our country (the citizens of which revel in indiscipline and lack of respect for the law of the land) that it shall never be implemented.
