Mera Desh Chor Hai ?

This amusing title is not taken from a Bollywood potboiler, but it was what I had read on the back of a truck 15 years ago, when as a kid I was touring Rajasthan with my family. The writing on the truck obviously didn’t go too well with my dad , who had then howled an abuse on seeing the same.

I , being a kid was indifferent then. But to think of it today – What was actually wrong with the writing ???. To me = Absolutely NOTHING.

If one were to go by the Headlines in 2009-2010 , it is tough to find a single day when the newspaper headline did not mention a SCAM.

· CommonWealth Games Scam

Officially worth 8,000 crores , it discounts the various projects worth another few hundred crores that Kalmadi has got in his sons name.

· 2G Telecom Scam

Fondly called ‘The mother of all scams’ , it has caused an overall loss of Rs. 1.76 lakh crore to the government.

· Adarsh Scam

Plot taken in name of martyrs , Adarsh scam saw all whose who from politicians to IAS to IPS to even ex army personnel getting into it.

· ISRO Spectrum Scam

We’ve heard a lot of misdoings of the USA but have you ever heard of NASA getting on the wrong side of the law. Well India’s NASA (read ISRO) is just the opposite.

· IPL Scam

Who can forget Lalit Modi and his mischief’s as the IPL boss?

· Satyam Scam

Satyam is the biggest fraud in the corporate history to the tune of Rs. 14000 crore.

· Defence Scam

What can be more shameful than the Nation’s elite Army being involved in some or the other scam as the years go by.

These scams were worth lakhs of crores of rupees and their beneficiaries are just a hand full.

If there was a Olympic Race for the most corrupt Nation , India would strike Gold, year after year, and improving the distance between the distant Runners-Up i.e. Russia. The Swiss Banking Association report, 2006 figures speak for themselves.

TOP FIVE Deposits with Swiss Banks

INDIA $1,456 BILLION

RUSSIA $470 BILLION

U.K. $390 BILLION

UKRAINE $100 BILLION

CHINA $96 BILLION

Simple Math tells us that India with $1,456 billion or $1.4 trillion has more money in Swiss banks than rest of the world combined. This amount is about 13 times larger than the country's foreign debt. With this amount 45 crore poor people can get Rs 1,00,000 each.

This is the country where officially 37.2% of the population is poor and 21 per cent of the Indian population is undernourished. According to the World Bank, 46 per cent of Indian children below the age of five are underweight, and the World Food Program says that close to 30 per cent of the world's hungry live in India

The country's overwhelming population is often given as an excuse to justify poverty and starvation in India. This theory is applicable only if the state itself is poor and has no means to procure enough food for its people. India is not poor, even though 70 per cent of Indians are. And the reason India cannot be called poor is – the richest of Industrialists today are Indians , the fastest growing Economy is India. But the concentration of wealth only in a few hands is a reason for great worry – the divide between the Rich and Poor , Rural and Urban , Educated and Illiterate in India is only widening with each new day.

There are many countries in the world that got their Independence after India and are already doing much better than India.

· How many years is the Aam-Aadmi going to bear all this injustice?

· Will we be asking for Roti, Kapada, Makan, Sadak, Bijli even after 100 years after Independence ?

· How many years are we going to ask for reservations and shun real education ?

· How many years do we want to help the Government keep minorities backward and keep them wanting ?

· How many times are we going to elect the same bloody corrupt politicians, who on their Election Affidavit claim to own no Car , but are seen roaming around in Imported sedans worth crores ?

Talking of the last point , I find it amusing when a Sharad Pawar or a Rahul Gandhi says he owns no car, when the whole of Pune knows that each inch of prime land here belongs to the former. (Did anyone say Lavassa ?? Ohh I hear Magarpatta and Amonora too. And lets not forget who allowed DB Realty to take away the Yerwada Police Station Land :) ). And the world knows that the latter’s family should be a majority shareholder in the billions slashed in Swiss banks.

It is high time now the Indian in us rose to the occasion and help curb corruption by standing, solid as a rock, behind Anna Hazare, Kiran Bedi, Swami Agnivesh and Arvind Kejriwal and by lending support to the Jan Lokpal Bill.

A look at the salient features of Jan Lokpal Bill:

1. An institution called LOKPAL at the centre and LOKAYUKTA in each state will be set up
2. Like Supreme Court and Election Commission, they will be completely independent of the governments. No minister or bureaucrat will be able to influence their investigations.
3. Cases against corrupt people will not linger on for years anymore: Investigations in any case will have to be completed in one year. Trial should be completed in next one year so that the corrupt politician, officer or judge is sent to jail within two years.
4. The loss that a corrupt person caused to the government will be recovered at the time of conviction.
5. How will it help a common citizen: If any work of any citizen is not done in prescribed time in any government office, Lokpal will impose financial penalty on guilty officers, which will be given as compensation to the complainant.
6. So, you could approach Lokpal if your ration card or passport or voter card is not being made or if police is not registering your case or any other work is not being done in prescribed time. Lokpal will have to get it done in a month's time. You could also report any case of corruption to Lokpal like ration being siphoned off, poor quality roads been constructed or panchayat funds being siphoned off. Lokpal will have to complete its investigations in a year, trial will be over in next one year and the guilty will go to jail within two years.
7. But won't the government appoint corrupt and weak people as Lokpal members? That won't be possible because its members will be selected by judges, citizens and constitutional authorities and not by politicians, through a completely transparent and participatory process.
8. What if some officer in Lokpal becomes corrupt? The entire functioning of Lokpal/ Lokayukta will be completely transparent. Any complaint against any officer of Lokpal shall be investigated and the officer dismissed within two months.
9. What will happen to existing anti-corruption agencies? CVC, departmental vigilance and anti-corruption branch of CBI will be merged into Lokpal. Lokpal will have complete powers and machinery to independently investigate and prosecute any officer, judge or politician.
10. It will be the duty of the Lokpal to provide protection to those who are being victimized for raising their voice against corruption.

AllBlogToolsFacebook comments for blogger brought to you by AllBlogTools.com , Get Yours?