A nation's stature is determined more from its people & cultures than its treasures . The people are the measure of its greatness and in a democracy the elected leaders are the definitions of the country.
India, a nation with, great personalities, great virtues like its culture , the fact of being the world’s largest democracy ,Its heritage , the abode of thousands of languages and various religions makes everybody spellbound by its wide spectrum of people and culture and also the fact that it is a country where every individual is free to practice his own religion, and to express his views, define India as one of the best places to live around the world.
But one more string that’s tagged to India is Corruption.
The very infection of Corruption has spread like an everlasting pandemic to the roots of our nation. At, every place-stage of the proceedings-every level-every angle ,money plays the driving force for getting works done and corruption phenomenon is one the leading cause for the downfall of all of us as a nation.
There is corruption in Political arena, in public services, in taxes and licenses and literally everywhere in India.
It has become a known secret to all and is most commonly spoken topic in every random conversation, that one can get any work done (quick-without delays-even though illegal) in a government office through payment of money to any concerned officer .This is shockingly true but a very bizarre act and even though we know that we don’t have to pay them for doing their duty, we end up paying the minimum sum with respect to the nature of work, saying, This is India, This is how it works ?
So is this how it all works in India ?
where has the infection sparked up? How on earth a country known for its honesty and sincerity of the people ended up being known for their corrupt works? And also managed to earn itself a proud 84th place out of 180 listed countries in Corruption Perceptions Index ?
Lets first see some general day2day cases of India,
Everyone who gets their passport from Government of India, pays a sum of Rs. 200 to 500 to the officer who comes home as a part of police verification process.
But, why should we do that? We need not actually pay any money to the verification officer for doing his duty, but we do end up paying.
And in illegal terms, any who gets caught for parking at wrong place or for speeding on the roads or for triple riding, gets away from punishment by paying some money to the on duty police officer.
And if I mention various other locations and situations we the people pay money to the concerned people, the list amounts to more than a thousand or more instances.
Here in above instances, people often pay even though their work is legitimate and for other cases, people pay for escaping legal punishments. Paying money for over coming punishments for illegal acts is a very incorrect practice.
This not only takes our nation in a wrong direction but also becomes a breeding grounds for the corrupt officials. This allows everyone a freedom to commit mistakes and there by making our country corrupt and a true unsafe place.
According to India law, Not only those who take money/gifts as part of corruption are entitled for punishment but also those who pay the money are also entitled for same extent of punishment.
So Are we , the people are the ones to blamed for making our country so corrupt ? I say, Yes, we are equally responsible for the condition of our nation but who is to be blamed in this vicious circle ? If it were solved, our nation would have been corruption free
Somewhere, the tradition has begun and is continuing till date . So according to me, It is high time that we put an end to this practice everyone together should march towards a corruption free India.
But , let’s not worry too much about how it all started but let’s get down to the business of dealing with the problems that we face in facing the problem of corruption
From the Government point of view
The anti corruption bureau in India, is in charge of keeping a check on the corruption using Prevention of Corruption At, 1988 which falls under Central vigilance Commission and doesn’t fall into any ministry and is headed by the Central vigilance commissioner, the CVC is supposedly an autonomous independent body but with only powers to advice but not take action against any one which is indeed a backdrop of the system.
Various individuals and officers that are searched and investigated in a daily basis by the ACB of whom many are innocent and most of them are guilty, but I haven’t ever witnessed even a single politician getting prosecuted for their corruption.
Everyone is fully aware that politicians eat up all our tax money and they keep growing richer everyday but no one ever dared to investigate into their funds.
This implies that, somewhere in the independent functioning of CVC, there is a string attached with the politicians which prevents ACB from intruding into the corrupt practices of politicians and hence politicians fall safe all the time.
So this makes me think the prosecution and hype over innocents being nailed under corruption scam is just an affirmation to their inability to actually counter the real culprits.
This has to change. A real force or power has to awarded to the ACB which allows it to search or arrest any random politician at their own will and scan his properties and then take necessary action against them.
Also, earlier , gifts attained by anyone, no matter how expensive they were, were never checked upon and never had any taxes on them. This allowed corruption prone to receive money inform of gifs. Now the new law of levying heavy taxes on gifts that are not from close relatives should help in curbing corruption.
The legal actions taken on the guilty proven should be so heavy in nature that , it should be a warning to the others who even think of getting involved into corruption. And also the process of investigation should be made quick which in turn requires input money and man power which can be afforded for a dream that we all care about, after all, it’s all our tax money.
Now from the public point of view,
The first step that is to be taken is to avoid payment to any official or officers for getting your legitimate work done.
And then the most important part is , awareness.
Spreading of awareness about the harmful effects of corruption on the growth of our nation to one and all should be done in a huge manner.
Well, the most important part of the corruption fight is corruption is Education. Education for all helps people to know their rights and ways to counter the infection. It helps them know that they don’t have to pay for getting certain public service done.
Educating the children of this generation about the effects of corruption, will eventually erase corruption from the map of India in years to come.
We may not be seeing a change immediately, but certainly in some years time, I wish to see the change happening.
The topic of corruption is so huge and is spread in various direction that I could give only an overview of my opinions with minimum examples.
Always remember, It’s you and me together , who can bring a change.
Educate- to eradicate poverty.
References
http://apvc.ap.nic.in/js/vol1/c3t1s5.html
http://www.simpletaxindia.org/2010/03/gift-tax-tax-on-gift-budget-2010.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_Perceptions_Index
http://www.u4.no/helpdesk/helpdesk/query.cfm?id=188
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