Rise of Corruption - an Analysis

Rise of Corruption – an Analysis

“Corruption is worse than prostitution. While the latter might endanger the morals of an individual – the former invariably endangers the morals of the entire country”. Karl Kraus

In the past few months, we observed that our daughter was losing a pencil or Sharpener/Eraser/Color Pencils/Sketch Pens on almost daily basis. Initially, we put this to her negligent ways and habits that she may have acquired as part of her growing up. And she was at receiving end of our ire. She however kept telling us that it was some x or y friends in school who took it from her but did not return. Only on a few occasions would she say that she may have dropped it somewhere. However, to confirm her story – we started writing her name on every Pencil, eraser etc. The trend of her losing her items continued though. One day when she yet again came back from school without her new Pencils, we asked her the name of the friend who took them. We called her friend’s home and asked her Parents if there indeed was a pencil of Ruhin with their daughter she may have taken inadvertently. To our surprise, we found that – it was indeed there. We requested that the same to be sent back. We did this exercise a couple of times again with her other friends too. And to our astonishment, we found that the items Ruhin said were taken by her friends were indeed with them. Everyone would say they would send it back the next day – but that did not always happen. We asked Ruhin to request the Teacher to help in getting the items back from next time. To our surprise (and as narrated) by Ruhin – the kids would abashedly say the items were theirs’. They would only return the item when Ruhin would point to her name written on the Pencil (or whatever it was that was taken from her)! And this is not just one case. There have been a few in the last few months.

“If a country is to be corruption free and become a nation of beautiful minds, I strongly feel there are three key societal members who can make a difference. They are the father, the mother and the teacher.” Abdul Kalam

I find a lot of value in the above. The notion of such incidents being small digressions of innocent kids is what actually makes these a part of the main stream culture, eventually leading to the menace that we loathe today... “Corruption”

“It is not the young people that degenerate; they are not spoiled till those of mature age are already sunk into corruption” Charles de Montesquieu

I, as most of you, have been hugely affected by high level of corruption in the society. And I have always struggled to answer that one question – “How did we land up here?”. After all its only been sixty odd years since we got our independence. We had great values then… honorable men and women were the order of the day. What happened thereafter?

“The accomplice to the crime of corruption is frequently our own indifference” Bess Myerson

We I think became complacent. We stopped bothering about the country and society. We stopped following the right path. Everyone in this country detests corrupt people. But who are these corrupt ones – You and Me… You and Me… You and Me. There is no other answer. I don’t ever tire saying that – “It’s You and Me” - no one else. We are corrupt but we still are audacious enough to raise finger at corruption in politics and government departments. Silly of us – isn’t it?

And for life of me I will never understand how did it become acceptable in the society? Corruption will always be a part of society but for me the brazenness of it today, is what is more troubling. You only have to look at the proportion of corruption cases that have come out in recent times. As if millions didn’t suffice. It’s the billions that the corrupt are interested in now. And these guys just don’t bother about laws. Every scam reported in the last 2-5 years has been a revelation – as if each of these people in power were trying to outdo each other. So, if Kalmadi can – why can’t I, if Raja can – why can’t I, if people in Coal Ministry, Aviation, Infrastructure, Railways, and Textile – can… well – why can’t I? Indeed why not? It’s as if tax payer’s money is for them to loot – so they just go ahead and do it! Today Bofors scam (of mere 600 Million) seems to be small skirmish – insignificant. I mean, what have we come to?

As much as we want to admonish every single one who is involved in corruption – for me – it was important to understand (make sense of) what led our countrymen to such labyrinth circle of deceit and corruption.

And before I delve into the reasons that I think could have led us to where we are today – I am going to entirely discard the notion that we have always been a corrupt-free society. Before you all jump on me – let me rephrase it – we were always a society who had people in power, or in the circle of influence, who were extremely corrupt and treacherous… historically speaking. Soothe your nerves? It was thanks to those corrupt people that we were beaten time and again by foreign intruders and were ruled many times over by all kind of thugs, businessmen, looters etc. These, who came from outside could easily lure our corrupt band of people and with their help run their victory laps. There are many stories in public domain for you to read and know about how the Turks, the Afghans, Moghuls and the British took control of our country and then ruled for many number of years. And the corrupt not only helped them win India every time they also helped them rule with a small band of people of their own ilk – but a larger corrupt ones from our end! So corruption and lower moral values have always been a part of our society. We cannot run away from the fact.

However, Independence struggle gave us a chance. That was one struggle which needed absolute commitment and high moral strength & belief. I truly believe we had a more righteous society then. People were willing to go to great lengths to remain truthful, honest and to live up to the rightly defined moral values of the society. That was the only way to get freedom. And that we got. Unfortunately, the sane are dead now and with the passage of time, we have gone back to our original model – of being corrupt and treacherous.

So going back to the original quandary, why have people turned corrupt in this country? Why could we not take strict action against the corrupt devils right when they were just offshoots?  Why over a period of time have we been tolerant to such mammoth corruption? And why today it has become an acceptable part of our society?

I firmly believe where humans are involved – there is always a reason for the practices they inculcate and follow. I have spent a lot of time thinking about this. I took a deep look at the history of major events in Independent India. Out of many events that I did list – I pinned down a few that, according to me, had profound impact on the way our thought process got defined & changed. I don’t claim to be an expert on this – but it is an honest attempt, which perhaps a few of you may challenge. For the records, many other events (not listed here) may have had an impact on our society – but I am only looking at the ones that have contributed to the rise of “Corruption” in this country and the ones that made it an acceptable devil. You see – corruption has its own motivations, and one has to evaluate the phenomenon and understand them better to eventually eliminate the foundations on which it may exist.

Alright, without much ado let me dive straight into the reasons of why, I think, a pure independent India became a cultivable ground for corrupt weeds to grow.

Voluminous Constitution & Outdated Indian Penal Code (IPC)

“The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.” (Tacitus, the Annals of Imperial Rome)

Ok – so we created Indian constitution after lot of research, analysis and debate. We got a mammoth book eventually, that we called our constitution. For those who are yet to know – our constitution consists of 24 parts with 450 articles, 12 Schedules, 2 Appendices which have undergone more than 100+ amendments in almost 65+ years of independence. It is by far the largest/longest constitution adapted by any country anywhere in the world.

Similar is the case with IPC, which covers the entire paradigm of criminal law in this country. It was drafted and implemented in… hold your breath – 1860-1862! It has around 20+ chapters and more than 550 sections. It too has been amended many times. The great thing about the IPC then was that these laws were very broadly defined. This suited the British in applying laws against Indians as they wished. So for any new crime discovered – the same laws would fit pretty nicely for them. That had its own advantages for “rulers”. Today it is considered to be outdated toothless tiger at best. The reason is not difficult to fathom. Most of the high-profile criminals get away with loads of criminal cases against them (running at various levels of criminal courts), whereas similar or lesser crimes do not help the poorer ones get bail for years. If not for the ridiculously useless laws – could law enforcement agencies get away with such differentiated behavior? Nah.

The point I am making here is – has such big constitution and such voluminous laws prevented corruption/criminal activities? What one law does – the other conveniently negates it (or conveniently bypasses it). A detailed constitution was created to ensure everyone was represented and no one could take undue advantage of vulnerability of smaller sections of society. But has it helped even a wee bit? Criminals often roam free and fight elections (and win) under the noses of these heavy laws – the laws just seem helpless in their current state. Nothing seems to be stopping people charged of corruption making it big in this “land of opportunities”. So what good are so many confusing laws? Ask any criminal mind or a lawyer - a good sign for corrupt ones to prosper is to have many laws created – that creates more cracks and holes. If having many laws could help – India, with its oversized constitution and great legendary IPC, would be the most idealistic country in the world. Huh.

Plainly speaking, the corrupt have become powerful thanks to us having so many governing principles and laws. There is an antidote to everything in our laws and such mammoth set of laws make for a perfect breeding ground for a corrupt society. With all due respects to the people who made them – their intentions may have been noble… unfortunately their future generations weren’t.

“In a state where corruption abounds, laws must be very numerous” Tacitus

Indira’s rise to power and her dictatorship style

“Corruption is authority plus monopoly minus transparency.”

Fact remains that the kind of leadership does define the style or form of governance. We will talk about it further down in this article. You see, India did start off pretty well for itself after independence. With Indira Gandhi, we had a leader who was not actively involved in independence struggle herself and did not share the same thoughts as her predecessors. She introduced a new style of leadership in the life of Independent India – one where she (and her stooges) had almost absolute power. She was a dictator to some degree. She may have had her reasons to choose that path – like being one of only few women leader/s amongst “wolfish” men, or her being the daughter of ex-PM and hence the need to prove that she was a leader too, or perhaps because she was leading people who thought they had more right to leading the party than she herself, and similar such reasons. Whatever it may be – she embarked on a path that probably marked the end of the breed of leaders who were thinkers and who believed in the moralistic society/country that they had fought for. And remember, Congress party then meant the entire political class – well – almost. You either would have to blindly follow her or move away. So started the era of “Chamcha politics” in India

That era decidedly drove away the intellectuals away from politics and that left a huge hole in our nation’s political spectrum. The lesser mortals (lechers’) quickly filled the gap. These recruits would fulfill every whim and fancy of Indira & Sanjay (her son). Her style of functioning was totalitarian. Written law was overwritten by wishes of the lady and that led to lot of corrupt/criminal methods used. Over a period of time these types of people became rich and powerful through corrupt means/ways and that trend got magnified to larger proportions with time… leading to today’s situation.

It is said that power corrupts, but actually it's truer that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power.” David Brin quotes (American science-fiction writer b.1950)

From a political standpoint – there is no denying the fact that Indira Gandhi was the one who started the rut we find ourselves today in. She deliberately ignored (in-fact protected the perpetrators) the trend of corruption/criminalization seeping into politics. That suited her. India has deteriorated ever since she took over… I mean, look around you – how many intellectuals/thinkers do you find in politics… now look again – how many corrupt ones & criminals do you see? You should get your answer. Remember its Indira’s legacy to us.

"Power does not corrupt men; fools, however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power." George Bernard Shaw

Bofors scandal

Now at the outset – let me state that I for one don’t claim to know if Bofors scam did actually take place, or was it created fictitiously for political benefits a by few idiots. Believers say there was a scam – non believers would argue we got the best in the grade “shoot & scoot” gun at the most competitive price and hence there was no reason for any kickback. And that’s an argument that won’t ever end. But if there was a survey done in India about the most popular scam - Bofors would win hands down. What an event that was?! Woof. For people in India who had woken up to the power of Television – it was unreal to see their beloved leader/s reputations being peeled off by their rivals. For the first time in India people “saw” how our leaders react to accusations, were able to see live debates on TV with various top politicians participating. As people watched in awe – the reactions of politicians were disappointing to say the least. It was as if – they were also humans after all!

Just to drive the point home, Bofors was the first political storm that was played live on TV. You see it was alright to hear about Rajiv Gandhi and his supporters denying the news of any corruption in the Bofors deal on radio. But it was altogether different to see them do it on TV. They all seemed so phony. We have had Telecom – 2G-3G, CWG etc. scams, but Bofors will always be the one which will invoke strongest emotions amongst people. Simply because that was the first time a politician, and a PM at that, who was accused of being a recipient of bribe. Suddenly the notion of PM’s position being sacrosanct was brutally destroyed. It was for the first time that people felt that those elected representatives who were chosen to govern were not beyond corrupt practices. Indian politician’s image was tarnished forever. I definitely believe that was the start of degeneration of this clan. Bofors scandal perhaps can be considered the event which made the largest dent to the position of highest political position in India (PM). It definitely broke barriers in people’s mind. It acted as myth-breaker for sure.

This case never got solved. It kept getting delayed and no one eventually got punished.  This gave the future generation of politicians the hope and feeling that perhaps they could also get away with corruption charges! All they had to do was delay the case and keep denying it. And the result? Well – we have seen multi-fold increase in such cases ever since. This scam proved to be a landmark and perhaps made the corrupt ones become brazen & unabashed about the way they did their “business”! Just so that you can gauge the effect of a delayed case … read the judgment on Bofors case against one of the accused below.

While we are busy discussing the Sensex and scams, India's poorest are barely surviving, thanks to an appalling governance deficit. In some areas of our country, we have no electricity, no roads, and no proper water facilities. 50 per cent of India lives on less than US $ 2 a day, 100 million children go to bed hungry every night; 62 per cent live without power. Can we allow this hard earned money of Aam Aadmi (common man) of India to be spent on these types of proceedings which are not going to do any good to them, after almost 25 years of the so called arms deal? The answer would be a big no… (And then the judge recited one of the famous lines of a song) "Woh afsana jise anjaam tak laana naa ho mumkin, use ik khubsurat mor dekar chhorna achha (A story that can't be brought to a logical conclusion or end is best left after giving it a beautiful bend) - Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Vinod Yadav (while closing the case against Quattrocchi - Mar 2011)

Reservation (Mandal Commission)

“There are two Indias’ within this country… one of them is reserved, the others are deprived”

Whatever may be the justifications, Mandal commission recommendations to increase the quota from 27% to 49.5% for OBC and SC/CT changed the course and direction of this country… majority of it for worse. I have said this earlier and I will say this again, the social fabric of our nation has gone downhill ever since… unfortunately though. A lot has been written about this topic for ages – I will not eat up the space here for that again. But then we thought the reservations would bring in people who were talented but who did not get enough opportunities. Instead, majority of what nation gets are people who had no/minimal talent and yet got important posts and positions in the government. And Ladies and Gentlemen - the result have been disastrous. This country has never been the same – and I am ashamed.

I firmly believe one of the reasons for rise of corruption in this country is because the class of people who were considered downtrodden and who came in jobs – then started using every possible means available to them to play “catch-up”. They (and the others of other castes “inspired” by them) just vitiated the environment with corrupt ways and methods that they used. They feel it is their right to get everything that others have and quickly at that… and they don’t stop at anything. No wonder there is no reservation in Armed forces. Try and propose that and we shall see!

The beauty of being in reserved class in this country is when you are caught doing something wrong – you can claim innocence in the name of caste that you belong. Really – I am sick and tired of hearing people claim they are being “unnecessarily harassed/targeted” because they belong to Dalit caste or some such caste/group. Aren’t you? Though we all can see a lot of such people/cases around us, Mayawati perhaps epitomizes’ the way this class of people misused the powers they got – for their own benefit… albeit at the cost of national degradation. People who deal with government departments, police administration and similar such fields will know what I mean and how majority of such recruits are. Perhaps a good indicator is the increase in corruption index after Mandal commission came to be implemented in this country. That tells us something… Shibu Soren, Bangaru Laxman, Paswan, Mayawati, A Raja, KG Balakrishnan (ex-CJI of India), Madhu Koda (ex-CM of Jharkhand) – they all lead the light for the depressed class and perhaps are a fitting example of how rotten has system become post their rise in ascendancy.

Liberalization of Economy

“Where money flows – corrupt swim”

Earlier, before 1991 era i.e. – India was on a socialist path with not much of money in the market. We had a pretty closed self-generated economy. Hence, we would only hear of scandals, riots, conspiracy theories etc. Come 1991, the markets in India opened up to outside world. A lot of capital flowed into our markets. With the population projected to reach 10 Billion in no time, the “who is who” of the industries flocked onto the Indian shores to setup their shops. That brought competition, more jobs, higher salaries, improved business and so on. All this meant there was money in the hands of consumer and there were good deals (with wider variety) available in the market to spend. It was boom time for the market and dare I say a “boom-boom” time for corrupt ones!

Suddenly there was money to be made in almost everything. From being middlemen for getting these foreign companies the government licenses, to acquiring real estate for them and such other logistics – these men/women made merry. You see, since it was an unexpected explosion of economy, old monitoring systems that were in place crashed pretty quickly. Companies in a hurry to set shop in India quickly understood that since the governing systems were yet to come in place – the quickest way to set “shop/s” in India was through these middlemen who would help get anything done faster for return in cash and kind. Note that these middlemen/Brokers were no one else but Politicians, quasi-politicians, government employees, private entrepreneurs and their likes.

Before the “Balance of Payments” crisis (in 1990-91), people had lesser money with no access to world media (those were Doordarshan days), had lesser expectations, got essential/other items at comfortable costs…overall a life with limited needs and limited means. Post-1991 economic liberalization people saw host of opportunities and saw others rising in social strata at frantic pace! That led to others wanting to rise quickly too in an increasingly competitive world. That led to taking shortcuts, which led most of them to corrupt ways. On the other hand, increase in market capacity, and the spending power led to lot of opportunities for unorganized sectors. These were primarily industries that dealt in cash and who would not pay taxes as prescribed as they would hide the actual quantum of business they did. In the process many unscrupulous people made a lot of dirty money.

This dirty money over a period of time has made their custodians not only rich – but also arrogant. And the need to maintain that power, they indulge in such activities time and again – leading to such sorry state of this country. It’s a bloody vicious circle.

Harshad Mehta scam

“Following the written system is passé… the unwritten does work!”

Perhaps the first scam of liberalized India was the Harshad Mehta Scam. Stock markets were suddenly gaining relevance and Harshad Mehta (the smart/shrewd chap that he was) had the first mover advantage! For records, he was accused and convicted for embezzlement of money to the tune of Rs 500 Billion by unfair trade practices in a highly unorganized Stock Market then. And just so that you get disappointed – 5000 Crore in those times was huge!! Such a figure was considered unreal in those times. How can anyone in India dwindle of 500 Billion Rupees? Hooh! Many innocent ones asked… “Does India have so much money where someone can coolly take away so much all alone?”!

As damning as the scam itself was, what followed was even more shocking. Harshad Mehta claimed that he paid 10 Million (1 Crore) to the Prime Minister of India to settle the matter. Though it could never be proved – Indians were ready to believe anything after Bofors scam. “Liberalized” media was all gung-ho about it. Harshad Mehta was interviewed time and again by various channels. Result? This crook came to be considered as a “smart” man who played around the system to make himself rich… something similar to what Dhirubhai Ambani did to setup Reliance Industries as critics (?) would say. People would give Harshad huge respect and he would be called in expert panels to discuss the financial and stock markets situation and trends! Whereas, he should have been locked and beaten to death, instead he was treated as a bloody hero in this country.

I used to be pissed off in those times every time someone heaped praise on Harshad Mehta. It was as if he has done some noble cause by pointing to a lacunae in the system and doing great patriotic service to the nation. He was slowly becoming an inspiration for people around then (He died pretty soon was some solace). I definitely believe that portrayal of this “scamster” as a hero was one of the mistakes on the part of us Indians. Media should have treated him as a criminal – than a hero. I can even today hardly find anyone who remembers Harshad and feels “bad” about what he did. But then, that is how he was portrayed then. On top of his oh (!) such jingoistic act – he became another catalyst in helping lower the esteem of the chair of PM.

The example that he set and the way he was projected led many to believe that it was alright to play around with existing systems and make money. People just took him as a role model. And most of corrupt ones in market have prospered using his model.

Rise of Local/State level parties & Coalition Govts

“When the people fear the government there is tyranny, when the government fears the people there is liberty.” Thomas Jefferson

For India, 1984 would definitely be considered as a year of great importance. Indira Gandhi got shot, which resulted in riots of unheard proportions. This led to polarization of electorate in Congress’s favor in Lok Sabha elections. That left the country virtually without any opposition parties. Fathom this – out of 545 seats in Parliament, Indian National Congress got 414 Seats and the largest opposition party was a regional party - TDP (Telugu Desam Party) with 30 seats (BJP – a new party – got only 2 seats then).

This was a major setback to the democratic framework of this country. This was the beginning in many ways of the rise of localized/regional parties. Congress fell from its high grounds in 1989 elections by winning only 190+ seats (down from 414)! In lack of any other national party in the scene – the direct beneficiaries of congress’s loss of face was the smaller parties – majority of them regional ones. Janata Dal (a new party formed by merger of Jan Morcha, Janata Party, Lok Dal and Congress (S)) won a handsome 140+ seats). Janata Dal was a part of a coalition group called “National Front” that was formed before elections and had 5 parties in it (Janata Dal, Lok Dal, DMK, TDP, & AGP). National Front together got simple majority in that election and formed the government with support from BJP and Communist parties supporting from outside. Note that 4 out of 5 parties that formed the National Front were regional/state parties. This, as stated earlier, was the beginning of what I think was a rotten phase in Indian Politics… and which, in my view, is still continuing.

As with most of the coalition arrangements earlier, this coalition too disintegrated pretty quickly, leading India towards more chaos. Every government since has been a coalition government with those smaller parties calling the shots and extracting maximum benefits in the event (in form of money and ministries). So there was a Shibu Soren, a Mamata, a Jaya, a Mann, a Gawda, a Maya, a Mulayam, Abdullah and oh many others – who had the major party leading the coalition under their thumbs. Consider this - in 1984 there were only 24 regional parties who polled small percentages of vote in national elections. This rose to 100+ parties in 2004. So, in 20 years the regional parties who polled some percentage of votes rose by almost 4-5 times!

Corruption spread its roots in these times and has settled down nicely ever since. Dirty games were played behind the doors of power, with cash (to the tune of Billions) paid to singular MPs and MLAs to keep them supporting the ruling coalition. When that did not satisfy the hunger of the corrupt ones – they started demanding a place in council of Ministers. Hence, a safer root was established – i.e. to give certain ministries to supporting/smaller parties. Imagine, ministries were no more allotted to people who had the necessary experience or caliber to make and execute policies – they were now given to supporting parties based on the “numbers” they brought in! The parties would then decide who to appoint as ministers. Eventually, what should ideally have been a Council of Ministers formed at the behest of PM and reporting into PM became a Council of Ministers, reporting into their Party bosses and accountable to them… and only them! And today a Minister first sends resignation as “Minister” to his/her Party “High command” and only when it is “approved” by the bosses is it sent to PM. The smaller parties have become so powerful that the policies of the country are being made based on their silly regional considerations. Central government has become just a pawn in the hands of these parties who pull strings whenever needed. Almost all the scams in the country (in Railways, in Telecom, in textile, in agriculture, in defense… you name it) were led by Ministers from regional parties. CWG and Coal scam are not restricted to Congress alone – every single one of them is involved across party lines – both Central as well as State administrators/representatives.

It is my firm belief, that rise of regional parties have been directly proportional to India’s rise in Corruption index.

A weak current PM

There was a time when Prime Minister of the country was considered the most powerful and the most able person. I think Rajiv Gandhi’s era changed the perception. He was the first one who became a PM not because he had shown some great skills. He was anointed the Leader because of his lineage. He was followed by VP Singh – who had no power of his own (with Devi Lal breathing under his neck). Chandrashekhar’s ascendency to PM position was the biggest joke played on Indian people (similar to Charan Singh’s tenure). I mean how can a party with 64 MPs even get near ruling any government? 64 is only 1/9^th of the total seats in Lok Sabha. It was a farce. But that is how low politics had fallen in those times. Perhaps the last PM who ran the government with some authority was PV Narsimha Rao. He was an astute man with great organizational skills. His shortfall was that he was not a mass leader and hence had limitations! What we then saw was a mockery of democracy – we had PMs from two small regional parties – Deve Gawda and IK Gujral (they were part of United Front Coalition). Both were utterly useless, who lacked any personality to lead the country. Thankfully, they survived only for small periods. Some consolation that. The institution of Prime Minister’s position took a royal beating all this while. But then came, Atal Behari Vajpayee. Let’s me say this – he was the first PM after Inidra Gandhi who could be called a mass leader. He was a learned man and a very able parliamentarian and administrator. But the spark he had shown in his stint as a PM for 13 days (before Deve Gawda) and 1 year after IK Gujral was all gone when BJP ran government from 1999 to 2004… thanks to the realities of coalition management! Vajpayee’s reputation took a beating all the while – eventually making him look helpless in front of minnows like Mamata, Jaya, Modi, Thakeray etc. It was sad to see him suffer – but the fact is – he did not have a clue and looked lost. We thought it was sad also to see the Chair of PM not having the power to run his government as he would want to. He chair of PM looked weak… very weak. I could not think it would go any lower… but I was not prepared for the severe jolt that came.

When Congress came back to power again with support from unlikely partners (like DMK and Communists) – they played the biggest joke on the people – by “nominating” Dr Manmohan Singh for the post of PM. He, a notable economist and architect of liberalized economy in India, had never shown any administrative skills. He was neither a mass leader nor a very able parliamentarian if I may say so. He was just a pawn placed in front of the public to lead them. Nothing could have beaten the position of PM to ground than that decision.

Over a period of time – he has shown some brilliance in negotiating the policy making – but eventually he was exposed and he just lost control of his Council of Ministers. Nobody listened to him nor bothered about him – be it Congress party or the coalition partners. His Ministers ran their Ministries as their personal fiefdom and which eventually led to them looting the country at will. Not had this country seen so many scams in a decade as perhaps under his stewardship. He was considered to be a weak person and he has proved to be one. 

Vajpayee, it could be argued, had no precedent to look at while managing a coalition successfully. He somehow completed his term but set a very bad precedent for Manmohan Singh to follow. What bad precedent? Well – how do you justify reserving ministries for parties? Is it not akin to giving bribes? I would have been happier if they were given cash rather than making the country suffer because of idiots donning the head of ministry positions. This model was picked by Congress and similarly distributed ministries as asked for by these silly parties. There was only one problem though… Dr Manmohan was/is no Vajpayee – and hence his Ministers gave two-hoots about his views and his position as PM.

Dr Singh comes across as helpless and spineless in adversity. He has shown an utterly weak personality. He perhaps is exactly the opposite of what personality trainers would advise you to be! He doesn’t stand upright, shakes hands feebly, has stiff neck, rarely (if ever) smiles, his eyes always seem to be still, he seems lost in a crowd of leaders… and so on. Now add to it a barely audible voice and you have painted a very good picture of a man who is weak, indecisive and without authority. He hardly ever takes a firm decision. And when he does – no one listens. I have no hesitation in saying that along with rise of state/local parties (which I love to call “Tichpukia parties”) having a visibly spineless PM has been the ultimate killer for this country and has led to powerful people calling the shots.

Summary

“Corruption and hypocrisy ought not to be inevitable products of democracy, as they undoubtedly are today” Mahatma Gandhi

Today, we are a society that is corrupt, unethical, egoistic, violent and immoral.

I am no one to preach anyone about corruption and its ill effects. And that is not the intention here. The intention was to look at the top few reasons for disintegration of our society and the lower moral values that we have come to embrace off-late. Don’t blame the politicians alone for this malice. Fact is, they had the opportunity to loot and they went ahead and did. I am not sure you and I would be able to resist if put in the same situation i.e. if there were millions to be made and it was on the table to be picked up. Let us not fool ourselves. We are all the same. We are all corrupted to the core.

The only glimmer of hope lies with the younger generation, the toddlers of society. It is through them that I am hoping to see the change. But for that we need to realign. We need to find ways to find the right ways to inculcate the right habits and morals in our kids. When kids make a mistake we should reprimand them, when they speak ill of others – we should be correcting them, when they show disrespect to anyone elder, we need to punish them… and with such similar corrective measures, we also need to instill in them the basic tenets of a good human being - being honest, moral, ethical, humble & honorable. If we look back at our own upbringing – I am sure it won’t be a difficult task. If we “will” – we will!

“I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.” Mahatma Gandhi

Think about it…

Its Montoo..

(Oct 2012’ to 31^st Dec 2012’)