Friday, February 11, 2011

Gandhi dreamed of Ram Rajya, got Scam Rajya

When Bapuji envisioned freedom for the country he hoped the empowerment would remove the social ills produced by centuries of monarchy, feudalism and colonialism. However, when the white man handed the spectre to the brown man nothing really changed.

It is difficult beat someone in his home turf. When corruption underwent 100 per cent indigenisation it became even more entrenched.

Such has become the state of affairs that more than the Right to Information Act, a comprehensive national list of bribes to be paid at each level of local, state and Central government would be more useful to the citizens.

The government says it would rather let foodgrains rot than give it poor so that the country's WTO-compliant image before the West stays intact. Repeated queries and directives from courts on social justice are given quiet burial in the labyrinths of red tape.

So what are the chances of your success in taking on corruption. The following are the possible scenarios:
1) Your requests are stone-walled by bureaucracy
2) Attempts to complain to higher authorities end up like complaining to Hitler about human rights abuse
3) You get locked up under one of those numerous security and terrorism laws for inciting unrest or conspiracy to wage war against the country
4) You are framed in false cases ranging from high treason to staring at someone for too long. Your family members are harassed.
5) You petition the courts and spend the rest of your life and energy in courtroom against top lawyers in the country.
6) You get killed in accident, during robbery attempt or will be gunned down by cops who launched an operation to bust the terror module you were running.

If only the country had the will to crack down on corruption....