And for a Friday, as the Political High Drama unfolds in the Nations Commercial Capital, some thoughts….. some musings…..
It doesn’t matter how this episode ends, the state of Maharashtra, Mumbai, the business capital and financial hub of India and the Nation looses. It’s a spectacle which showcases the height of political expediency and the depth of crass money power, corruption and utter disdain to principles. Values and Ethics at one end, the other side is the maturing of India as a Democracy. Such a large and complex continent of a country with 1.4 bn people speaking more than 22 different languages, housing every religion of the world – Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Jews, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, etc. etc. of every conceivable subsect, economic levels and breakaway groups. Democracy needs political structures, politicians, elections and elections need funds. Funding, a function of power, which is the fuel that completes the full circle and ensures wheels of sustainability. Every democracy in the World is suffering at albeit different levels. Hence, United Nations has added Sustainability Goal 16.5, the urgent need to reduce corruption and bribery in all its forms across the world.
Corruption has two broad categories, “Collaborative Corruption” and the second and more apparent one is the “Coercive Corruption”. In the former, the Giver and Taker are both benefitted and hence nobody cares or feels directly impacted. The nation pays the price over a longer time horizon. It’s the Coercive Corruption where the poor and marginalised are constrained to part with their hard earned money to get what is their “rightful dues” which MUST and CAN be tackled. Use of Social Media, Technology, better processes, middle class awareness and individual involvement to take even baby steps to correct the situation, rather than just callousness, disdain and avoidance of the problem of corruption. ADR (Association of Democratic Reforms), PCGT (Public Concern for Governance Trust) ALFI ( Alliance for Integrity ), SEEGOS and so many institutions and NGOs nearer you, are working to reduce corruption.
Professionals and honest tax paying citizens in every sphere of society must contribute time and energy in tackling corruption, the involved way, use-technology way, the SEEGOS way.