Why is corruption thriving in India? Because we, as voters, have no qualms in voting to power the corrupt!
Every election we tend to bring back the same old culprits to power, blithely forgetting all their misdeeds, giving them a second, third, fourth,... chance.
In a democracy the responsibility to elect the right rulers rests with the people. And we as people have thought our responsibility is to elect people from our own castes, creeds, geography, language and such other considerations.
And we tend to think any regime is good as long as it helps us profit at others' expense. Think of it: isn't that corruption in a subtle form?
Isn't the corruption we see at the top levels of our government just a more grosser form of the same evil that lurks in our own minds?
Yes, we need to suffer.
A Baba Ramdev or an Anna Hazare cannot weed out corruption in India. That can be done only when we as a people decide to punish corruption.
But we have shown again and again that public memory is worse than a dog's. And the corrupt have taken heart at that and went about happily deceiving India, and profiting from it.
Or may be we are not ready for democracy! But Plato's Philosopher King is not just around the corner, at our beck and call. We need to make do with this system and for it to succeed we need to take long-term views and act on them.
Every election we tend to bring back the same old culprits to power, blithely forgetting all their misdeeds, giving them a second, third, fourth,... chance.
In a democracy the responsibility to elect the right rulers rests with the people. And we as people have thought our responsibility is to elect people from our own castes, creeds, geography, language and such other considerations.
And we tend to think any regime is good as long as it helps us profit at others' expense. Think of it: isn't that corruption in a subtle form?
Isn't the corruption we see at the top levels of our government just a more grosser form of the same evil that lurks in our own minds?
Yes, we need to suffer.
A Baba Ramdev or an Anna Hazare cannot weed out corruption in India. That can be done only when we as a people decide to punish corruption.
But we have shown again and again that public memory is worse than a dog's. And the corrupt have taken heart at that and went about happily deceiving India, and profiting from it.
Or may be we are not ready for democracy! But Plato's Philosopher King is not just around the corner, at our beck and call. We need to make do with this system and for it to succeed we need to take long-term views and act on them.
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