The diversity in the country has a very positive multiplying effect on the strength of unity; this is the reason behind India emerging as a powerful nation economically and politically. India, the Queen of our adoration, has entered her 64th year of independence. After trying hard to recuperate from the colonial rule, she is now trying to emerge as an empowered nation, giving tough competition to countries like the USA. Despite her long and sincere journey, she is standing at the crossroads at this juncture and the famous adage — “The rich are becoming richer and the poor are becoming poorer” still holds good. Why? What’s wrong?
One word explains it all- Corruption.
Scams like 2G spectrum, the Indian Premier League, Adarsh Housing and the Commonwealth Games made us understand the gravity of the situation. These scams are equivalent to treason; they can be fought over only once the roots of the system are cleaned. As per the world corruption watchdog, The Transparency International 2010 index; India stands at the 87th position among 178 countries with a corruption index of 3.3. The politicians who are expected to protect the system aren’t worthy to hold that position because as of December 2008, 522 of India’s parliamentarians were facing criminal charges. Political corruption is the stimulant, as we look beneath the layers; there are a few factors responsible for it.
Freedom for the implementation of laws: Several officers are appointed to take care of the enforcement of the prevailing laws but the lack of freedom to the vigilance officers to charge action against the ill-doers is spoiling the entire system. Lack of punishment to the corrupt officials encourages them and hence they dare to get involved in bigger scams. Politicians are above the law and people are fed up, all they want is to see if the government has got a political will to fight a decisive battle.
Delayed justice: We all know that justice delayed is equal to justice denied. With time, our laws have been a saturated stagnation. We have fixed laws, but they would be more accountable if they are flexible for various circumstances, places and times. Corrupt officials have paralyzed our judicial system by now, which made the people lose their faith in the same. We have needed it for so long that we almost forgot about it — The right to justice in time.
Black money: Unlike yesteryears, the concept of black money came into limelight, thanks to the media’s coverage. As per the statistics, Indian owned Swiss bank assets account to $ 1.4 Trillion, which is thirteen times our country’s national debt. One definitely doesn’t need to say how accelerated our progress might be if these assets are used for the country. The reason for this is the rich politicians wanting to evade their huge taxes. The youth has witnessed all of this over the years with their frustration at its zenith and have waited for a proper time; time to do something, to change the system. It recently got materialized when the anti-corruption crusader, Anna Hazare, started his movement demanding the Lokpal bill at the central and Lokayuktha at the state levels. This Gandhian follower adopted one of the most effective mediums through which he could express his zeal for self-sacrifice and amalgamate all the youth for one noble cause, for the betterment of country — Hunger strike and Non-violence. This has spread over like wild fire, its reverberations and ripples are felt all over the nation. Movements like this gain momentum only if empowered and taken up by the student community.
Swami Vivekananda says, “My faith is the younger generation — they will work out the whole problem like lions”.
Immense strength + quest for knowledge + Proper time = weapons of the youth. Youth, though young in age, are eternal in strength.
They can utilize their right to express the dissatisfaction with the functioning of the system and their grievances publicly. As corruption is the greatest stumbling block in the way to development, it needs to be eradicated from the grass root levels.
A drive against corruption could be initiated where students can voluntarily go to and make awareness campaigns, teach moral science and educate people. Social networking sites offer a platform for an online revolution; they can make clubs, discuss and join in to support the leaders fighting against evil. But it is to be noted that success in such attempts will drive our country’s state in a positive way, only if this movement continues through a mobilized, organized and dedicated students’ network. This would definitely stop the canker of corruption.
On a side note, in this silent yet powerful step we are going to take, Indian women could be our inspiration. Anyone would earn money for his family, if a corrupt officer brings a lot of money home, an ideal wife/mother wouldn’t encourage it. If it’s not for his family/future generations, the chances that he does those barbaric acts will be less, or in fact zero.
As the saying goes, कà¥à¤ªà¥à¤¤à¥à¤°à¥‹ जायेत कà¥à¤µà¤šà¤¿à¤¦à¤ªà¤ª कà¥à¤®à¤¾à¤¤à¤¾ न à¤à¤µà¤¤à¤¤ ।
– There can only be a bad son, never a bad mother.
So, the youth should be inspired from her – the woman, the Shakti. Here, we can integrate this issue of corruption to the education of women. If we give women more priority and make them the backbone of our society, a lot of other issues would also be solved. This will bring a massive change and after a generation or two, the amount of corruption in the society would be stunted even if we may not be able to eliminate it completely.
Often there is one change/breakthrough that is required to solve numerous puzzles. Like in research, our society is also a big complex system, for a much more rigorous brain that is trying to comprehend all. The onus is on the students to use their intellect for the re-building of the country which is now engulfed by corruption. It’s going to be a long battle, so we have to keep the spirit strong. A few whole hearted, sincere and energetic young people can do more in a year than a mob can in a century. Let a new India arise. It is the will that is power and will make a deep impact. We will surely achieve an ideal nation that we have been dreaming of.
Jai Hind.
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