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DEMOCRACY AND CORRUPT POLITICIANS
The concept of democracy evokes strong feelings. People
generally feel that is the
best form of governance. A type of governance in which decisions
are taken fairly; and in
which the people have a feeling that they can make a difference
if they want to. One can
almost visualize the early beginnings of democracy, long back,
during the time when
humans were but mere hunter-gatherers, councils being held to
decide important
decisions; in which the feelings of no one was left out. The
concept is simplistically
brilliant. Very often mathematicians find that the toughest
problems have the easiest
solutions. Mathematics very often encapsulates life. The tough
problem of how to take
decisions may have a simple solution of taking a majority vote.
Of course, there are
theorists who beg to differ, but well, we cannot satisfy
everyone, all six billion plus of
them living, simultaneously. Some believe that a single ruler
must take decisions for the
country at large. They believe that dictatorship is good; and it
may be, for the dictator in
question at least. Some believe that a permanent group of
well-informed people must take
decisions on behalf and independent of hoi polloi, but this
system too has its
disadvantages.
Thats not to say that democracy too does not have its
disadvantages. A
cumbersome process at best, when the population exceeds one
billion, as in India, it will
certainly be an extremely difficult task to get the opinion of
all the people. It has often
been noticed that when a large group of people all vote together
on an issue, they have an
uncanny, almost eerie knack on making the right decisions.
Decisions that help them in
the long run. Well, groups of people cannot get much larger than
Indias one billion plus
people, right? However, even though technology has developed by
leaps and bounds,getting the opinion of so many people is well, not
possible; at least for now. With the
purest form of democracy ruled out due to its overwhelming
complexity, a system of
parliamentary democracy developed. Parliamentary democracy is
defined as the
democratic form of government in which the party (or a coalition
of parties) with the
greatest representation in the parliament (legislature) forms
the government, its leader
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becoming prime minister or chancellor. It started in England and
was brought to its
many colonies by them. One of the few benefits of being ruled by
the British, I suppose.
Every cloud has a silver lining, you see.
One of the biggest problems that India has been facing over the
years is
corruption. Well, corruption is certainly not unique to India,
but it has been very
destructive to India in particular, because India is rising
right now, and thus there is more
to plunder for evil, self-centered people. So, India languishes
at the 78th spot in
Newsweeks list of Worlds best countries. Corruption is often
compared to a leech. And
its not without reason. It sucks the blood of the nation. And
what is the blood of the
nation? Money, money and money. So our beloved country is not
able to rise with its full
strength. A series of unfortunate events as Lemony Snicket would
have said, right?
Winston Churchill once said that democracy is the worst form of
governance apart from
the various ones already tried out. One of the titans of the 20
th century, he committed
himself and the nation to an all-out war until victory was
achieved, and his great
eloquence, energy, and indomitable fortitude made him an
inspiration to his countrymen,
especially in the Battle of Britain. I am saying all this mainly
to reinforce the character of
the person who spoke the aforementioned words. Well, when such a
weighty man spoke
such weighty words, what can one such as I do, but concur?
Now, corruption and politicians often go together; in Indian
language and
contemporary speech anyway. We almost cannot imagine a
politician who is not corrupt.
This is how bad the situation is. This is what the general
belief is anyway, and it is
promptly reinforced from time to time by rumours and reports of
scams running into
untold crores. A shame and a taint on our nation, I must say.
Politicians are the most
powerful people and I think that they must see more movies. Yes,
you got me right,
movies. The words With great power comes great responsibility
were written with
them in mind, in all probability. Well, happy endings are for
movies only, till now
anyway, but it would make a tangible and needed difference if
something like that
happens in real life too. And an end to all corruption is
certainly needed. Well, it looks
possible, but certainly improbable right now. Firm steps should
be taken, by a firm
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leader, either a charismatic one or a brutal one. A Kennedy or a
Stalin would suffice; but
we all would, of course prefer the former. Are you listening,
Rahul Gandhi?
Forums in which decisions are taken, often on issues involving
large amounts of
money have attracted a large number of leeches, rather
blood-thirsty ones, which are
intent on spoiling the future of our country. This is one of the
disadvantages of
democracy, in which people are selected on basis of merit to
manage affairs of great
importance in the country. Even one rotten apple in a barrel is
dangerous and we often
find out this the hard way and even more often when there is
nothing one can do. Often
transparency is an issue and when that happens, things usually
go bad. The people who
usually handle important portfolios are also unfortunately, in
this case anyway, quite
clever and know loopholes in the system to exploit, or can just
indulge in a simple bit of
cheating or money-laundering. Very simple indeed. Too simple
actually. That is not to
say that the whole barrel is corrupt; rather that there seem to
be very few of them. By the
way have you heard of the recent news of an IAS couple caught
with an inordinate sum
of money with them? Probably they were the stupidest or the most
reckless. That was
about the babus. And I am not even going to start with the
netas.
So, all in all, it looks as if corruption is almost impossible
to eradicate, if only
because of the base nature of human character and the trait of
greediness that seems to be
interwoven with it, held together with the finest links of
steel. Somewhere, somehow, it
just happens. Maybe I am a bit pessimistic, but it is better to
keep all possibilities in
mind. The need of the hour seems to be a transparent regulatory
mechanism, which does
not deteriorate into just another way for politicians to
manipulate things for their own
good. In India in some states, Lokayuktas have been set up to
weed away corruption, and
people say that it has been doing a good job. Is it the answer?
Nobody can tell right now,
but sooner or later things are bound to come out into the light
and then we can tell with a
fair idea what effect it has had on politics at large. However,
as with all things dark, we
cannot be totally sure.
PRATHEEK PRAVEEN KUMAR
[email protected]
