Accidental Activist: Enough Corruption! By Venita Coelho
It was so good see Azad Maidan full. At every protest, getting a large enough crowd to make a point is always a problem. But on Sunday the point was more than made – over 1,000 people marched against corruption.
The march was part of a nationwide effort, led by the likes of Kiran Bedi, Swami Agnivesh and Anna Hazare. It was no mere show of strength, the demands were practical: Pass the Lokpal Bill in the next session of parliament. It creates a powerful anti-corruption body called the Lokpal, which is efficient, transparent, and completely independent. To depend on the government to move against corruption is to ask the thieves to close the door after they have finished looting.
The sheer mind-numbing figures of the Commonwealth Games (CWG) scam have proved to be the tipping point. People across India are disgusted with the sheer scale of corruption. On Sunday, people stood up to say enough is enough – in Goa, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Kolkata and elsewhere. For the first time in years, a non-political rally in Goa drew a huge crowd.
Politicians should take note. We are a sending out a clear message that we are sick of the mess you have created; of the way you have looted us; of the way you are raping the state. Especially note; the gathering unanimously resolved that illegal mining be immediately stopped, and those behind it be sent to jail.
I have a personal list of people I would like to see in jail. Heading it are those responsible for reducing the process of creating a Regional Plan into a farce; for shoving in last-minute changes and additions, and for reducing the plan to a tool for various lobbies. This is corruption of the worst order, because those responsible have corrupted the clear will of the people of the state.
Coming a close second are those responsible for illegal mining – the officials who turn a blind eye, the greedy mine owners who would happily swallow the state if they could, and the politicians who support them.
A special cell is reserved for those mine owners who rape the state and then pose as saviours by funding art-and-culture initiatives. I don’t know whom they imagine they are fooling.
An entire block is reserved for corrupt government servants. It’s thanks to them that children fall sick after midday meals, that over 40 per cent of assistance for the poor vanishes, that only 5 paise in every rupee of government schemes actually reaches the people it is meant for.
That’s the problem. If you put all of them in jail, you would run out of space. Corruption is so deep rooted, so part of the system, that to remove it means hacking out huge chunks of that system itself. But if that’s what it takes, so be it. India cannot continue the way it is going right now. The march clearly showed that the imperative for change is upon us. The numbers can no longer be ignored.
Someone once said: “The problem is not just that the politicians and rulers are corrupt; the problem is that the people are corrupt.” You see that truth every day. Somebody has an illegal extension in their house, so they say nothing when the Panchayat overrules the Gram Sabha. Someone needs an illegal water connection, so they keep quiet when their neighbour puts up an illegal fence. Trading favours and silent connivance among ordinary folk is the foundation on which the grand scaffolding of corruption stands.
There is one place to start the fight against corruption – at home. Get that permission, even if it takes three months longer than if you just went and buttered the Sarpanch. Refuse to give that bribe, even if it means that your papers will be delayed. Yes, it means inconvenience, extra effort and wasted man hours. But it also means that you are that rare person who personally stands by the truth. Go for that rally for sure, but to really fight corruption, begin right here at home. (ENDS)
===================================================== First published in the Herald, Goa - February 1, 2011
