India Against Corruption

All my dear Indians.....Congratulations, India has moved from rank 94 in 2009*  to 91 in  2010*. What a proud moment for all of us, We have improved consistently in the field of corruption. Atleast this is what figures say

 

 India  - 3.3 CPI where 0 is Most Corrupt

Malawi, Lesotho, Vanuatu..... Heard of these countries before? Neither have I . Even such non heard countries are doing better than us.

Two consecutive headlines on BBC's news bar -> "India celebrates World cup victory against Sri Lanka", "Indian Telecom minister and his aide to be interrogated by the CBI in the multi-billion dollar scam".

See we are famous for two things :-
1. Cricket
2. Scams

We won the Cricket WC after 28 years, what a struggle. Unfortunately, there is no Scam World Cup, else we would have have been undisputed champions for 28 years.

Enough said about the problem, the solution to it lies in total Transparency.
Noted social activist Anna Hazare alongwith Shri Shri Ravishankar, Baba Ramdev, Kiran Bedi, Syed Rizvi, Archbishop Vincent M Concesso and many others have started a drive "India Against Corruption". They demand implementation of two bills, one "Jan Lokpal" at centre and similar one "Jan Lokpat" at state level.

The bill says - 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

The Jan-Lokpal committee will be headed by a person who is not related to any political party neither does he/she has a business. The office term will be for 5 years. This clause is a problem with the govt.

How clever is our PM....he makes a anti-corruption committee(CVC) which is headed by his own person. So no chance of being caught. Jan-Lokpal would ensure the PM and Chidabaram cannot fool Indians by appointing a corrupt person like Thomas as CVC.

Govt of India was to introduce a similar bill("Lokpal") however, they have crafted things only for their ease. Let see how it compares...

Lokpal	Jan-Lokpal
Doesn't have powers to initiate action. It is a advisory body	It is not a advisory body but has powers to initiate actions.
Legally unsound, doesn't say anything about FIR and role of CBI	Mentions all aspects of FIR and CBI.
Strong Punishment for Wrong complaints. Hence, you wont be alive to complain next time.	A disciplinary action against inapt complaints
Committee of 3 people involving only retired judges.	Committee of 10 people from various backgrounds. 4 from Judiciary compulsory.
No power to investigate PM.  No time limit for case.	Can investigate.  Time limit of max 1 year to give the result.
Only Speaker decides which complaints to look on.	No hearing would go off without being heard.
Doesn't give security to people who would file complaints.	Gives!
Min punishment - 6 months, Max - 7 years	Min punishment - 5 years, Max - life imprisonment

Clearly bent to support politicians.

Many letters were written to govt officials and everyone except the ruling party has accepted it. Sonia Gandhi, PM, more are either not responding or delayed things giving their reasons.

Now, if You support this drive, please spread the word. Join their Facebook Committee.  Send SMSs, emails. Save your country !
Do not forget to **Vote Against Corruption and their official website is **http://indiaagainstcorruption.org/
 

*91 rank where 1 is most corrupt... the rank is 87 if one looks in reverse order. 
**Website may be down for sometime as too many votes are being registered

 Read 7 Ghotale Maaf to know abt Indian Scams

Transient Patriotism

30th March, a day when streets were deserted after late afternoon, a dead silence everywhere as if the entire 1.21 billion had been killed and humanity was wiped out. There was no section 144 imposed, no national holiday declared yet it was a unofficial holiday for all.

Schools, Colleges were declared off before time, shops were shut and all for one reason. India - Pak cricket match. Could really be a country be so frenzy for a match? We all witnessed it. And as Pakistan lost their last wicket, fire crackers bursting all over.

Diwali and Holi in one day. A similar occasion when MS Dhoni hit 6 on 2nd April and India clinched World title in style. Roads were blocked all night. People chanting slogans,dancing on road, on cars, on roofs, in houses, in clubs, in police stations. Indian Flag waved everywhere.

Indians realized they were "Indians". We were united for 2 days. Strangely, the question to be asked is.....why dont we celebrate the Independence Day this way? Where is the elation on 15th of August? . The freedom fighters were more vital than cricket team. The Kargil war generals who lost their lives were equally important. Sadly, we don't see such enthusiasm on Vijay Diwas. Why do we forget that we have a team coz some "true" Indians who fought 60 years before and laid their lives are the only reason we can celebrate today!

Why is patriotism such short lived? The politicians who had turned up were happy they were being focused by camera. They could indeed make more difference to the society than Team India. If so many of us who watched the match would vote sincerely, we may just have a better government.

My appeal to all is not to have a ephemeral feeling of Indianess, but carry it throughout your life.

Jai Hind