Questions on the current anti-corruption movement in India

Question: Not only ministers but everyone is corrupt in India.So what is this anti-corruption movement about? Hence, Why should I support the on-going anti-corruption movement?

NOTE: In the article below, the terms WE, US and YOU have been interchangeably used to mean people of India

My Opinion:

Yes,it is true that many people, apart from the ministers,are corrupt to some level and it almost became a way of life for many today. We cannot deny that fact, isn't it? In fact,it has almost became an accepted belief among people that those who do well in the society must have indulged in some sort of corruption, otherwise it wouldn't be possible to reach that stage. Isn't this true?

Isn't it a fact that most of us indulge in activities like downloading pirated movies/songs,bribing someone to get things done etc., which are forms of corruption! This has almost got woven into our daily lives and we take these for granted, don't we? Most of us feel helpless as we all are oblivious on how to fight against corruption. We started accepting the fact that if we don't bribe or indulge in other corrupted activities, we won't be able to solve some basic needs. isn't this true?

Anna's JanLokPal Bill is not the panacea to all the problems of India, to say the least the corruption. But, consider these points below:

1. Everyone talks about corruption prevailing in India and of finding a better solution than Anna's movement, but no single entity or organization had made a considerable progress towards achieving this goal till date. All the solutions had been permitted to the book (in eradicating corruption) but there had been no action on how to fight the corruption, and no other movement came so close to that of Anna's anti-corruption fight.

2. Nor was their any other Organization who were fighting the corruption in India, had come so close face-to-face with the Govt

3. Anna himself has been saying that introducing the Janlokpal bill will not solve 100% of corruption or problems in India and he is absolutely correct when he said that. This will indeed be a long fight into the future to eradicate corruption from grass root levels.

4. Having said that, we must make a start somewhere, isn't it? Why not we start now? Why not? I'm asking all those who are reading this article.Why not we start with a strong LokPal Bill?

I compared the PROS and CONS of Jan LokPal Bill with that of the Govt drafted bill, and I can tell you that PROS for Jan lokPal bill outweigh CONS many a fold (except keeping the Judiciary separate from this bill, thereby, allowing it to function as a super-entity to provide justice, and it is purely my opinion, but there is nothing wrong if we bring others into the Bill)

5. Which is easier? Is it easy if Anna stops the movement now and all people go home and we start engaging in another dialogue (or) some other way of fighting corruption, with the Govt again? Having seen the adamant, arrogant and defiant nature of the Govt in the recent days, who in a practical sense of mind, believe that such a dialogue will even be feasible forget about it yielding results?


NOTE: People should understand that the Govt was not at all expecting such a huge uproar in India with Anna's movement. It all came as a shock to them.They will also put their best efforts (there are crooked minds at work already) to dilute the movement. It is up to the people of India and team Anna to remain vigilant, patient and protest peacefully and take the fight to a logical conclusion.

6. Considering all the above facts, I believe that we have to utilize the upsurge that is currently happening in India and make the Govt frame the strictest of the law, which we must consider as a start to fight against corruption.

7. Once the strict bill has been drafted and the bill passed in the Parliament, it will be a psychological victory to the people of India and for those who fight against corruption and that message will vibrate across the nook and corner of India. It will also send shivers through the spine to those who want to either accept or give bribes or indulge in any form of corruption. Don't you think so?

8. More-over, if the people of India want to start the anti-corruption movement by tabling the Jan Lokpal bill draft in the Parliament, why not we support it? Lets join hands now and pave the way for a corrupt free India for our next generation. Jai Hind!!!

What led to the Current state of Indian Govt and Politics?

Interests of the Governement authorities never matched that of ordinary citizens in India.

Please find my analysis below, which talks about root cause of the current state of India and our Constitution, the attitude (Master/Slave attitude) which political figures enjoy today and also talks about the "chalta hai" attitude of most of the Indians, which has created a perfect atmosphere for corrupt politicians.

There are two types of Government:

1. Development-oriented government

2. Predatory/Command Government

Indian Govt falls under predatory/command type of Govt, which denies citizens freedoms for their selfish means.

It is a well-established fact that economic and individual freedoms are necessary for the development of a nation. A Command Economy is definitely inconsistent with economic growth and development of the nation.

The reason for why India has such Predatory/Command type of Government (there is lot of evidence to prove this) lies in India’s colonial history.

Imperial powers (British Raj) get into the business of running colonies for economic gain (can anyone deny this fact?). British had indeed plundered the great wealth of the country and nobody can deny this fact.

Power is clearly asymmetric during the British rule. The rulers have the power to extract rents from the Economy, at the expense of the ruled (in the form of taxes etc.,). To create such a conducive atmosphere for wealth creation and greater control over the people, the Masters (here it is British) created the laws and regulations which are consistent with their goals. It doesn’t take much to realize this, isn't it?
It is clearly understandable that the British had framed laws that gave them the supreme power of control. During the British Raj, the Govt was the Master and People were its Servants.

Now let’s see how the ruling has changed post-Independence era (post 1947):

The laws which British had framed for their purposes continued to operate. The Institutions continued to operate as before, with minor cosmetic changes, such as renaming Indian Civil Service to Indian Administrative Service etc.,

Different people occupied the chairs but the functions remained exactly the same, as that were existent when British ruled us. In effect, it’s been the same old pay, on the same old stage with the same old script but different actors now.

Everything from the functioning of the Govt offices to the methods the Officials ruled the people, remained more-or-less the same. In effect, this can be seen as a British Raj 2.0

Unlike the United States, India did not have a Revolutionary war of Independence. Actually, India never had any revolutions, to speak of, unlike other countries, nor did it have a civil war.

Indians are, as a lot, are not very excitable, and prefer the laid back “Chalta hai” attitude. This attitude is predominant even among the highly educated people, even today, which is one of the factors that the Govt exploits for their own gain.

Hence, the British, having known this very well (about the laid back attitude of Indians), left in their own sweet time, when it suited them. They had extracted enough wealth out of India by then.

Let’s analyse constitutional differences between India and USA:

There are major differences in the case of India and US, though they were both British colonies at some time. The Americans won their freedom by defeating the British, and decided that they will not ever be subjects of a king. They gave themselves a new set of rules and were not interested in reusing or recycling British rules. This can be attributed to one of the major successful factors in the overall development of the country.

The Americans have written an absolutely brilliant constitution which gave the people power over their government. Americans are taught this in schools and they were made sure that they imbibe the basic principles and rights of constitution.

The American constitution spelled out what the Govt could and could not do. The constitution severely limits the power of the Govt, and prudently distributes it across three institutions – the Legislative, the executive and the Judiciary.

The people are the Masters and the Govt that they elect does what the people allow them to do.

In the case of India, the Govt is the Master and the people exist to serve it. The Indian constitution is a set of prescriptions and prohibitions limiting the freedom of the people.

What India needs now, is a fundamental transformation, a change in the rules of the game, not a mere change in the set of players.

The Independence that Indians should have fought for should have been about real economic and personal freedoms. Granted that Indians have the political freedom to choose but it is more a matter of servants choosing which master they wish to serve, rather than free people choosing who is to serve them.

I personally feel that these people who are fighting for anti-corruption, and which they did recently at Ramlila Maidan and Jantar Mantar, are asking for another institution (independent) which can punish the corrupt and that corruption will vanish. This, to me, is just like replacing one Govt authority (corrupt one which exists today) with another Govt authority. Does this really serve any purpose? It’s something like we might need another institution, in the future, to guard the current one.

The way ahead for India is to reduce the power of the Govt and shift it to the people.

The way forward is only through the power of Voting. To make this more prominent effect, people at all levels need to be Educated on the ill-effects which are plaguing our country today and how they affect a common citizen (you and me).

Also, there is a need to educate people and demonstrate (atleast verbally) to show how rooting of corruption can lead to the overall benefit and development of the society.

The Govt definitely is aware of this fact about Educating people, and hence it fragments the population along caste and religion, easily manipulating them by withholding and granting favors to groups as needed to maintain control. That divide-and-rule worked in both British Raj 1.0 and British Raj 2.0. Don’t you agree this for a fact?

The Govt, having known the fact that the, if people have all the information, that will be a huge trouble. Hence, the Govt starts to monitor and control the flow of information to the people.

The citizens should be educated on such knowledge and only then can we have that power to get ourselves out of the Govt clutches.

The Unfortunate fact is that we have to realize that freedom does not come without a struggle. The illusion that India is a free country is persistent.

The time has come that people need to get together and fight against the master/slave mentality that the Govt holds.

Even though, it takes time to clean the country of such predominant ailments, plaguing our country today, there needs to be a start somewhere and it is now the right time to start the struggle and each and everyone’s contribution will definitely help to root out the corruption at large and pave a new way for our young generations to come.

Truth About Refined Sugar

To be honest, the idea of cutting sugar from the diet is daunting, isn't it? However, it may surprise us to learn that sugar in its refined form, SUCROSE, has a big impact on our bodies and its ability to function to its full capacity. From suppressing the immune system and impairing the defence mechanisms, sugar can produce a significant rise in bad cholesterol levels (LDLs) and also deplete good cholesterol levels (HDLs). Some of the facts, which the research institutes proved as a fact in the recent years are listed below:

• Refined sugar can dull our skin and make us fat (even though some big sugar industries deny this, it has been proved as a fact by the R&D institutes recently)



• Refined sugar can cause the skin tissue to lose its elasticity and therefore lose its ability to function to the maximum leading to premature ageing



• Refined sugar can interfere with our body's ability to absorb proteins and can change their structure so altering the way they act in our bodies



• By decreasing the sugar intake, we can increase our emotional stability, which in turn will boost our health



• Our moods are determined by a steady stream of energy from our blood cells to our brain, and is a very important factor for decreasing the sugar intake and keep our emotional stability in balance



• Essentially, all refined sugars will cause our blood sugars to soar at first and then plummet rapidly, which of-course is not good for the body



• Do you feel sensations of fatigue, lowered motivation and a depressed-like state? It also has been proved that sugar intake is a major contributor for such effects.

It has been found by the research institutes that a strange co-relation between the meat eating and the craving for sugar.

Taking animal protein increases cravings for consuming more sugar, because the animal proteins are acid-forming and tends to induce sweet food cravings to buffer the effects of digesting the dairy and red meat (infact any meat) products eaten.

It also has been found by the research institutes that opting for alkaline foods such as vegetables, pulses and natural sweeteners including cinnamon, nutmeg and agave syrup, are suitable for a release from those sugar cravings.

However, we must know that all sugars are not bad. Natural fruit sugars are best eaten whole, with the pulp and fibre of the fruit itself rather than as a fruit juice, as the fibre slows down the digestion and absorption of the sugars in the body.

So, I want to conclude this article by stating that cutting down Refined Sugar intake is a healthy and wise decision that we can make, in the current times.We must pay attention to our sugar intake in the form of soft drinks, processed foods and other means by which they enter our bodies and are causing deadly harm to our bodies, than we realize.

I get reminded of my Dad's saying that it is Cleanliness that comes before Godliness and that includes cleansing our bodies of such harmful ingredients (which destabilize our emotional balance) and keeping it clean always, to be able to turn towards Godliness. I can now understand the deep, inner meaning of his saying (that without perfect emotional balance, we can never concentrate on other things).