[Hum] Re: [hum] Corruption not the sole problem

My own perception is different.
Politicians in general and those belonging to party/parties in power, are the practitioners of pareto analysis which has pointed out that (a)0 .5% population controls 95 % of the wealth of the country (b)about 20% constitute the middle class which hardly votes and hence need NOT be bothered about except that 50% of this categories is salaried undergoing TDS which sustains 80% of the populations which does NOT pay taxes (c) 80% are the vote bank, out of which NOT more than 60% turn up for voting,l which can be bought at a cost NOT exceeding Rs 1000/- per at the polling time (d) hence worry about and benefit 0.5% of the wealth bank 1764 days in a 5 year term and address 80% one day pout of 1765 days with folded hand presence begging for votes. Once voted to power toll the collectorate NOW SUFFER US FOR 5 YEARS.

From 1947 onwards politicians enchant slogan 'Garibi Hatao'. They never say 'KISKI' because what is NOT spoken is 'Sirf APNI'. That is what accounts for their assets multiplying ceveral hundred percent in the term of election. The demands for bribes are conduited through bureaucracy and hence they have to be shielded. In any case no one in governance has been hanged. Hence the policy 'CONFUSE, DIFFUSE and REFUSE'. When some pointed irregularity/favouritism surfaces, Order investigation without clear terms of reference and directive to pin-point responsibility and time bound completion of enquiry. When report is submitted DIFFUSE the issue by saying that it is being looked into. By the time noise is made again, Government changes and hence blame the previous Government since loads of Ministers cause bureaucracy band wagon to move with them.

And last but NOT the LEAST, if adjudicated a mildly investigated report alaways fails on account of insufficient evidence.

Hence it is right to say that CORRUPTION is NOT the ISSUE, the Politician and the Bureaucrat are.

VC Khare


On 04-11-2012, IAC INFO wrote:

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Lt Col \28Retd\29 VC Khare B-406 Ram Vihar Sector 30, Noida 201303 \28Uttar Pradesh\29 Mob 9312807120, 9810114095 Phone +91-120-2456116

A provocative article by a former Doon School headmaster selling the familiar Congress theme - corruption is not the problem, poverty is ('Bhrashtachar badhao garibi hatao'). Ajay

Corruption not the sole problem
KANTI BAJPAI

Going by the Indian media, the greatest problem in the country is corruption. A content analysis of Indian television and newspapers and magazines will almost certainly show that the single largest item is corruption. Is corruption the most consequential problem facing the people of India? Not so. The obsession with corruption is a largely middle-class preoccupation, a type of middle-class diversionary tactic.

Corruption is a bad thing, obviously. The scale of it today seems monumental, though no one has showed that it is any worse than under previous governments. To say this is not to excuse the UPA government, which clearly has to do much more to rid the system of dishonesty and illegal moneymaking. What is true is that the media today is far more vigilant and the government more porous than in the past. We therefore hear a lot more about corruption than we did before, and we tell ourselves that things have never been worse.

Actually, if someone monetised and counted the number of dishonesties and the amount of illegal moneymaking, we would probably find that on a per capita basis, corruption is not much worse than in earlier periods. If we discounted for inflation and growth rates, it has most likely been remarkably stable. Indeed, it is an even bet that the totality of corruption, big and small, has actually dipped, given the freeing up of the economy from the licence permit raj and the improvement in surveillance technologies.

Why then is the middle class preoccupied with corruption to the exclusion of all other pressing social issues? There is a long list of far more immediate and long-term problems that are vital to the well-being of ordinary Indians. These include the availability of food, water, housing, electricity, fuel, affordable and safe public transport, basic health amenities, banking facilities and participation in local municipal decision-making, amongst others. How many stories will you read about these issues in the English language or Indian language media? Very few.

The middle class controls the media in terms of ownership, viewership and readership, and the personnel in charge of these organisations. It does not want to be reminded that the vast majority of Indians live in squalor; a squalor so deep that few places on earth, even in the most deprived parts of Asia, Africa and Latin America can match it. It is not that middle-class Indians do not know this. They just do not want to be reminded of it. And the challenges of removing this squalor seem so massive and unsettling to their lifestyles that they would rather focus on something more tractable. Corruption fits the agenda of what seems controllable.

Why does corruption fit the bill so well? For one, it seems like a finite problem. After all, how many really, truly corrupt people are there in India? In the middle-class and upper-class imagination, the number is not large: all MPs, MLAs, senior civil servants, and fat-cat corporate executives. Count them up and that comes to a few thousand - easy enough to deal with. Compare that to the hundreds of millions who must be helped out of poverty.

Corruption is also attractive as a target of middle-class ire because it cuts across caste, class, religious, regional, generational and gender divides. Who could be against fighting corruption except the corrupt? No great political and social compromises are necessary here. Everyone is against corruption and, therefore, campaigns against it are relatively painless. Corruption is unifying.

A campaign against corruption draws people to it also because the major targets are easily enough identified - politicians, officials, business executives. They are greedy and venal, and no troubling social analysis is required to unearth the causes of the phenomena. What is the cause of India's poverty, abysmal human development and deplorable quality of life? These are much more difficult and dangerous questions to answer.

Corruption is not the only or even the greatest challenge facing India. It does need to be controlled. But a hysterical, exclusive focus on it by the media, activists and the public is wrongheaded.

permalink: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-07-23/edit-page/29803212_1_corruption-middle-class-indians