Kiran, Why do you view this as mass-hysteria and nonsense? And why do you impose your generalisation on the people of this list?
On 19 Aug 2011, at 18:29, Kiran K Karthikeyan wrote: > Makes a very valid counterpoint to the mass hysteria around AH/Lokpal > nonsense. > > http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/18/world/asia/18iht-letter18.html > > Kiran > > India's Selective Rage Over Corruption > By MANU JOSEPH > NEW DELHI — The best thing about Indian politicians is that they make you > feel you are a better person. Not surprisingly, Indians often derive their > moral confidence not through the discomfort of examining their own actions, > but from regarding themselves as decent folks looted by corrupt, villainous > politicians. > This is at the heart of a self-righteous middle-class uprising against > political corruption, a television news drama that reached its inevitable > climax in Delhi on Tuesday when the rural social reformer Anna Hazare was > about to set out for his death fast — the second one he has attempted this > year to press his demand for a powerful anti-corruption agency. > He was arrested by the police, ostensibly in the interest of law and order. > > Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in his Independence Day address to the nation > on Monday, took digs at Mr. Hazare and his tactic of using hunger strikes to > twist the arm of an elected government. Mr. Singh said that he did not have > “a magic wand” to end corruption in India. > The anti-corruption movement has the simplicity of a third-rate fable. > > There are the good guys (the reformers and the average Indian citizen) and > the bad guys (the politicians). But the real story is not a fable but art > cinema. > Indians have a deep and complicated relationship with corruption. As in any > long marriage, it is not clear whether they are happily or unhappily married. > The country’s economic system is fused with many strands of corruption and > organized systems of tax evasion. The middle class is very much a part of > this. > Most Indians have paid a bribe. Most Indian businesses cannot survive or > remain competitive without stashing away undeclared earnings. > Almost everybody who has sold a house has taken one part of the payment in > cash and evaded tax on it. > > Yet, the branding of corruption is so powerful that Indians moan the moment > they hear the word. The comic hypocrisy of it all was best evident in the > past few months as the anti-corruption movement gathered unprecedented > middle-class support. > > When Mr. Hazare went on a hunger strike in April to protest against political > corruption, the film stars of Mumbai added much glamour to his cause by > coming out in unambiguous support. Two months later, when a yoga instructor > called Baba Ramdev went on a fast demanding that the government investigate > “black money” hidden in foreign accounts, the film stars went silent. For > good reason. > > The film industry is much cleaner today than it was more than a decade ago, > but, revenue officials say, huge quantities of secret wealth are still a part > of its system. > > One reason the mafia could get such a firm hold on the film industry in the > 1990s was that it had established a business relationship with producers and > actors and functioned as an efficient conduit for illicitly transferring > their money to safe foreign havens. > > Following Mr. Ramdev’s fast, when the government agreed to investigate Indian > money hidden in foreign banks, The Times of India ran an intriguing essay > that argued that the law should make a distinction between the “black money” > of corrupt politicians, earned through kickbacks, and the “black money” of > businessmen who had moved their cash abroad years ago to save themselves from > unreasonably high tax rates in socialist India. The essay implied that > corrupt politicians were the real evil and that the tax-evading businessmen > were just smart. > > Corruption is such an integral part of Indian society that the chief economic > adviser to the government, Kaushik Basu, has suggested legalizing the payment > of bribes. He received enthusiastic corporate support, which is to be > expected since the largest bribe-payers in India are corporations. > Mr. Basu’s reasoning is that if the payment of bribes were legalized, the > bribe-payer could be persuaded to reveal the recipient. This would inject > fear into the hearts of politicians and officials who expected bribes. N.R. > Narayana Murthy, founder of the Indian software company Infosys, said in a > television interview that Mr. Basu’s suggestion was “a great idea.” > > In an informal way, Indian society does grant legitimacy to the bribe-payer > because “bribe-payer” is a description that fits most of the country, > including many of Mr. Hazare’s nicely dressed supporters. > > This legitimacy is a bit absurd when extended to corporations. > > If the lament of Indians is that political corruption pilfers public > resources, then who are its chief beneficiaries? It is the companies that > secure licenses at discounted rates in exchange for kickbacks. > > But the public rage is directed only at the middlemen — the politicians. > > There are several reasons for this. Among them is the plain fact that many of > the new supporters of the anti-corruption movement are corporate executives > themselves, and there is a common perception that, while a company has to be > practical, a politician has to be virtuous. > Also, the mainstream Indian news media are efficiently controlled by > corporations, which can threaten to pull advertisements in the face of any > negative coverage. > Behind the power of India’s anti-corruption movement is the rise of a new > emotion: Young urban Indians are more interested in their nation than ever > before. As a consequence they are more politically aware. > > Seven years ago, I went around Mumbai asking fashionably dressed college > students questions like, “Who is the deputy prime minister of India?” Often, > I was faced with long, embarrassed silences, or “Oh my God, quiz question.” > > When I asked a young Muslim woman the question “Who is Narendra Modi?” she > said she had not heard the name before. Mr. Modi, the chief minister of > Gujarat, was then and still is accused of assisting riots that resulted in > the deaths of hundreds of Muslims. > > Today, there is a perceptible increase in the number of young people who are > acutely aware and interested in the fate of the nation. That is because they > are different from the generations before them whose only objective in life > was to escape India. Now that the world is what it is, there is no place to > escape to. So they want their home to be a better place — where bribe-takers > are punished and bribe-payers live happily ever after. > > Manu Joseph is editor of the Indian newsweekly Open and author of the novel > “Serious Men.”
