And for a Friday preceding the annual Vigilance Awareness week, my favourite topics – Fighting Corruption and Good Governance, some thoughts….. some musings…..
Starting from October 30th, for a week there will be a bombardment of posters, banners, advertisements, particularly from PSUs and Central Govt Organisations exhorting citizens to take the Integrity pledge, the promise to fight corruption, the perils and dangers to our country due to corruption etc. etc. Most citizens may ignore or the employees who undertake the campaign may take it as just another assignment for a week and forget it. But just think, the famous adage oft repeated quote – Only in India, the corrupt accuse the corrupt of being corrupt and the corrupt investigate the corrupt and absolve the corrupt of being corrupt – unquote.
Who is to blame? It’s a huge issue not only in India but across the world. The real sufferers are the poor and helpless. We as a nation will continue to remain a developing country till each of us wake up to the challenge. Amongst the middle class and rich, every person will have two examples of corruption to share for every one given by the other. But the important issue is, what do we do? The problem is well understood and analysed in 100 different ways. But we quickly lay the blame on the politicians, bureaucracy and carry on. Instead, as the Vigilance week unfolds, can we step up and along with the pledge, identify two baby steps that each of us can take to fight corruption. Please do write to me what those steps can be.
Undoubtedly corruption is too big an issue to be left to politicians alone. Needs to be tackled by each of us. Let’s all take the needed steps the rightful way, the supporting way, the SEEGOS way.