India truly is at the crossroads (From Asian Image)

India truly is at the crossroads

4:00pm Tuesday 23rd August 2011 in Columnists

India is passing through a historic phase in its struggle for social justice. A special article by Dr. Kailash Chand OBE and Prof Navdeep Singh.

Despite the widespread perception that Indian politicians and bureaucrats are among the most corrupt and incompetent in the world, successive governments have not lifted a finger to bring about even minimum reforms to the country’s political and administrative systems.

The disgust that middle-class Indians feel for politics and politicians has not come about overnight, it has been brewing for years.

Inch by inch, the political class has ceded moral authority… This disgust is now deeply entrenched and will not subside easily.

It surely sounds absurd to suggest that a Middle East-style people’s revolt is brewing.

But, as in much of the Arab world, the criminal mismanagement of resources, red tape and crony capitalism have ensured that, even as India trumpets its economic progress, much of its population survives on less than £1 a day.So there is the risk of huge upheaval unless drastic action is taken to eradicate corruption and tackle poverty.

Anna Hazare has tapped a groundswell of frustration over rampant corruption in India's fast-growing economy, and his showdown with authorities has left the ruling Congress Party looking weak and reactive.

The party's popularity has declined in recent months over several scandals involving telecommunications, defense and sports management and allegedly tens of billions of dollars.

The anger and frustration with the rulers has found expression in the clarion call given by Anna Hazare and his group.

Most people associated with this movement are well meaning and highly knowledgeable. However no ideas can be implemented without the active participation of the people who make such movements a success.

For this to happen it is important that they understand the genesis of corruption and what sustains it.

Although corruption is a hydra headed monster with many facets, most people in India equate corruption with monetary bribery and nothing else.

It is important to dwell on the various forms of corruption and incorporate in the legislation measures to contain such subtle form.

Unaccountability and concentration of wealth and power in a few hands is one such factor that needs serious attention of the law makers and activists. The popular sentiment for bringing the judiciary under the Lok Pal is because lack of accountability and absolute powers vested with the judges are playing havoc with the justice system of this country.

No experience is more unpleasant than getting involved in litigation. The casual manner in which litigants are treated has to experience to be believed. Complainants regret having taken up a right cause.

Even time barred cases drag on for years.

Another section of society totally unaccountable for their action is the media. Corporate controlled media and the Politician- Media-Corporate -State Machinery nexus is responsible for many of the corrupt practices that have become a part of the system not only in India but in the west as well.

The Radia tapes and the Rupert Murdoch investigations have shed light on this unholy nexus.

It cannot be without reason that a corporate giant in India who often claims to be above board has approached the Highest Court in India to hide the contents of his conversation.

In UK the Murdoch report has commented on the inappropriately close relations of the Prime Minister with representatives of the Corporate media giant. The Press Council of India’s report on the “Paid News” phenomenon has also elaborated on how the corporate owned media has corrupted the noble profession of journalism in the following words: “In recent years, corruption in the Indian media has gone way beyond the corruption of individual journalists and specific media organizations -- from “planting” information and views in lieu of favours received in cash or kind, to more institutionalized and organized forms of corruption wherein newspapers and television channels receive funds for publishing or broadcasting information in favour of particular individuals, corporate entities, representatives of political parties and candidates contesting elections, that is sought to be disguised as ‘news’.

The above nexus often manifests as “conflict of interest” when those having stakes in benefits find a place or “links” in the decision making bodies.

Strangely the very media that is highlighting the Anna movement is opposed to any checks on this nexus. Any talk of containing such tendencies or curbing this nexus invites a hue and cry in the name of freedom of press.

They should know that the curbs on the black sheep will only benefit the vast majority of upright members of their profession. Such voices need to listen to what Sh. Prabhash Joshi, a doyen among journalists said about the so called “freedom of press”: “Most of the newspaper owners and a few editors as well believe that their brand of journalism is head and shoulders above public scrutiny.

It seems some of them also believe that readers have, somewhere along the way, forfeited their rights to question the integrity of the press…the media primarily draws its freedom and independence from the fact that its readers are free citizens of this country.

The notion of freedom of the press follows thereafter. And if newspapers or media organizations violate the rights of the citizens of India, the right of freedom of expression could be withdrawn from them”.

In light of the above, in addition to the Judiciary,electoral reforms,education system, the corporate world and the media also need to be brought under the scrutiny of Lok Pal or some other independent body if Anna Hazare movement wishes to strike at the root of corruption.

Further, it would be in the fitness of things that the pace of intended reforms on curbing corruption be pursued with purposefulness and single-mindedness.

In that task the onus is on the government, the Opposition and civil society, all in one go. Corruption, is deeply embedded in the social fabric of Indian society. Therefore, besides legislation its eradication requires changes through education and moral regeneration.

Article by Dr. Kailash Chand OBE& Prof Navdeep Singh.