These days there have been a lot about corruption and the fight against it. While, I as a citizen was bewildered by the sudden awareness, it also came to my mind as to why people are being so agile now against this age old problem. Corruption is not a phenomenon or a property that existed only since we had our independence; this is an age old problem of our country. Since the times of the Mahabharata there have been incidences of deceit and corruption in the political machinery and administration. So why this brou-ha-ha over this issue after so many years?I am not aware of the contents of the Lokpal Bill but then the brief synopsis I got of this so called hope for the common man was as follows:
1. The bill empowers the common man representative not on an electoral basis but on a meritorious basis to a committee.
2. The committee has the powers to actually prosecute/recommend to prosecute/impeach a person, sitting in an office of power, if found guilty of corruption and other malpractice.
3. It actually gives the power in the hands of the people who actually deserve to have it and empowers the feeble minded common man towards being more confident and adhering to the system of the country.
4. It is a system under which there can be a significant reduction in the segmented corruption that we have not only in our political machinery but also in the administrative domains.
While the picture seems rosy enough, what I fail to understand is the following.
a) How sacrosanct would be the committee which will be formed to deal with such cases?
b) Daily there are about 1000 or even more cases of corruption or corruption related crimes, how these will be prioritized by this committee?
c) What is the guarantee that in this event of prioritization of cases there will not be any sort of nepotism in the committee itself?
d) As the time passes by, how do we actually monitor and analyze the work of this committee and on which exchequer and fund will this committee run (centre or State)?
e) If it is a centrally run committee then what is the guarantee that this committee itself will not be parochial to certain regions?
While Anna Hazare has done a wonderful job and that too in the most decent ways about taking an initiative towards fighting this problem called corruption, however, I feel that to fight this demon which is actually within us for so long a time will take much time and effort than just a fast.
