I belong to India and since I have been born and brought up here for 30 years, and given the Right to Speech being a citizen of this country, I will voice my angst whenever my country gets gang-raped by her own citizens.
The Common Wealth Games is due in fewer than 60 days and guess what- we are getting to know the corruption rearing its ugly head once more. I have been following the national news channels pretty closely and the debates that have taken place following the disclosure of rampant corruption level the sporting event has relegated to.
Should We Have Hosted Such A Big Event?
This is quite a pertinent question. In one of the discussions on National News Channel, Mani Shankar Iyer objected the very necessity of holding such big events. His logics were loud and clear:
1 – India’s sports infrastructure is not equipped with International standards to hold such big events. The then government and their officials, who vied for hosting CWG in India a few years ago, did not care about India readiness to host such events. They spent millions of dollars to secure votes from other country members so that India could win the bid to host CWG. This is ridiculous in the first place!
How can you throw away my money out of the window to save your pseudo-national pride?
My tax money merits better treatments – please use my tax money for millions Indian citizens in the BPL bracket who are fighting for their basic needs!
2 – If you have a penchant for holding such big events to offer a fillip to Indian sports (which I suspect isn’t true), use my money to train sports people and for achieving better infrastructures at the grass root level. Use my money to encourage thousands of those budding talents before they give up their dreams due to lack of government attentions!
Why Would I Care?
I hate delving into the details of the CWG corruption. That’s for you to find out if you really care your tax money, genius!
All I can say, we live in a country where corruption is rampant to such an extent that we don’t mind waking up to it daily, seeing corruption stooping by another notch below.
If you’re still looking for an example of what I just said above, here is your daily corruption dose straight from TOI’s Sanp Judgment:
It comes as a shock that army jawans have to make do with substandard rations, as a CAG report finds. Three lakh soldiers under the Northern Command were fed rations that were six to 28 months past their consume-by date. A serious overhaul of the procurement process to ensure quality is needed. Fresh food is the bare minimum that those who risk their lives to defend the country can expect.
What Can I Do?
A lot, actually! Corruption breeds in our very mind when we become selfish and help it grow gradually. We don’t mind, for instance, feeding those government officials that have grown hungry to eat a pie of our hard-earned money to perform their basic duties and do jobs for their salary.
If you really care for your tax money, you must stand against the illegitimate demands of the corrupt officials of the Indian beaurocracy to begin with.
But corruption doesn’t begin or end with Indian beaurocracy alone. The next time you wake up finding someone robbing you off your hard-earned money, get straight with them!
6 responses
Wah! This is article so relevant to you! You’re probably the very first guy I know who serves under the Government of Orissa and is still free from corruption 🙂
Thanks for your thoughts, dude!
Corruption is a Great ENEMY in the COMING DAYS for the COMMON MAN…… PLZ GIVE SOME EXCELLENT SOLUTIONS LIKE THIS OUTSTANDING ARTICLE….
As you said “We start our day with corruption”. We (most of us) are also a character in the novel called “Corruption”. Do you remember, when did you helped to promote corruption or acted against the corruption?
If you ask me this question, I will answer, I never acted against corruption. And few weeks before I handed over a 10 rupees note to the electricians of CESU, who came to fix our connection.
@Debiprasad: I don’t want to be a by-product of the environment; I want the environment to be my by-product. This is a popular line from the famous movie, “The Departed” . While I agree with you we all have been a part of the corruption in the past, it doesn’t mean we should continue being a part of it for long. Corruption is an epidemic and there are people who are being directly affected. Just because you and I are safe today does not necessarily mean that we will continue to enjoy this freedom for long. Sooner or later, we will be engulfed by the worst consequences of corruption, unless we start doing our bit to discourage corruption. Obviously, I know you(my friend) want a better future for you and for me and for our next generation.
Talking of 10 rupees as a bribe? Well, there is a difference between “Bribe” and “Tip”. When we leave any restaurant satisfied with their services, what we pay happily is not bribe, its a tip. Of course, I never offer any tip unless I’m impressed with their hospitality.
The last time, an engineer from Sony asked me for a bribery of Rs. 200 to install my HDTV on the wall, I called up their managing director and got it done for free. I had to battle with them for one hour, but in the end, it was well worth a fight…..and guess what…..I pride myself on that 🙂
Tips is a separate thing. What I gave was a forced tip. You may ignore it and don’t give. But next time, when you are in trouble and call them, they will ignore you. That does not mean, they will never do. But they will make delay for a day instead normal delay period of few hours. So, no normal person will ignore to pay a small amount.
However the point I noted above is small, I noted it, because it’s the most recent thing happened to me. However, I always think to fight corruption, but don’t get enough opportunity. Soon, I will write a post on how we fail to fight against corruption or bribery.
Had your HDTV came with free installation service or not?
“Had your HDTV came with free installation service or not?”
Yes, but I had told them not to install the TV on their first visit, so they left me the device (called bracket). However, I was told that I could get the TV installed anytime within 3 months of my purchase date. They have a policy to charge you if you’re opting for re-installation. But, in my case, it was not a re-installation at all, which is why I got it done for free. But nothing comes easy unless you fight for it – if you have seen 3 Idiots, you must know what I’m saying 😉
I will wait for your post on corruption….good luck!