December 2, 2008
Like every one else my heart is bleeding for Mumbai. Yes I am angry with those who failed us. But we have to find a solution. Malady of India is an attempt to analyse the rot in the Indian system both in administration and political set up. Please let me know your comment and go further from here to rebuild India.
Like every one else my heart is bleeding for Mumbai. Yes I am angry with those who failed us. But we have to find a solution. Malady of India is an attempt to analyse the rot in the Indian system both in administration and political set up. Please let me know your comment and go further from here to rebuild India.
Malady of India
In the aftermath of recent unfortunate incidents in Mumbai, there is predictable and justifiable anger from all the cross-section of people. There is a demand for increased security and stringent laws. But the malady runs deep. Trust it, nothing substantial is going to come out of it, because the system is rotten to the core. There is only going to be a round of musical chair between the sets of politicians, and new establishment is not going to be any better than new one. What India today needs is a revolution of a kind, which looks to be an impossible dream.
Let us examine the ground realities. Almost everyone agrees that behind the whole planning and execution of ghastly operation were local contacts who must have organized logistic and supported in many other ways. This requires a very well organized establishment having resources at all levels. Which are the organizations who can carry provide such support. How do they grow so strong which enables them to challenge the might of the state at such level? Obviously they do not grow overnight. The finance for their activity does not materialize all of a sudden. They are operating and indulging in activities which give them power for a long-long time with full knowledge of establishment which includes police, customs, and of course political masters.
To begin with let us talk of drug syndicates. They are one of the most organized crime mafia. The drugs are not locally produced. They originate from Afghanistan and through Pakistan there is a continuous movement to India. The resources under this mafia are unimaginable. They have a distribution network which any consumer goods company will envy. The street peddler is at the lowest rung of this syndicate. Even a college student knows where the drugs are available. Can any Police-man pretend that the police are unaware of existence of this network? It is under their very eyes and with their patronage that these activities are going on. Right from delivery at street level to smuggling in India in large quantities, everywhere law enforcement agencies which also include customs and police are hand in glove with these operators. So these operators have capabilities to arrange for illegal entry of anything weapons included in India. Remember in 1993 blast like of custom officer Thapa not only helped in smuggling in of RDX but actually escorted the consignment safely through their zones. It does not matter whether they were actually aware of actual consignment or not, but they were very much aware of illegality of whole operation. Does anybody think that there is any change in ground realities? No, everything is going on as smoothly as earlier and that is the reason that narcotic drugs are available to anyone wanting these.
It is no secret that police and other enforcement agencies are involved in every illegal activity going on in Mumbai and every big or small city. It is a common knowledge that most of custom and police officers as well as small and big political leaders are involved in illegal activities and are worth hundreds of crores. Does anyone think that state home minister is not aware of rampant corruption in police at all levels? Right from employment to selected postings, all are for sale. From a street vendor to encroacher to crime mafia are all known to Police and pay regular bribe to police to look the other way. Even Dawood Ebrahim started his career as road side vendor of smuggled goods and graduated to a full time smuggler. Once in the world of crime he had to either grow or perish. A smuggler or a drug syndicate does not exist if there is no sales outlet existing. These are known to common people. Can government agencies be in dark about these? If will is there the backbone of these illegal operations can be broken in no time. But that will also stop flow of black money to police and their political masters. Hawala operators who play a significant role in transfer of money for all antinational activities are well known to everyone who wants to use their services. If there are rampant illegal operations going on every where how can we even think of security. Unless corruption is struck at its root from a lowly constable in police or clerk in custom to higher levels we cannot feel safe.
It is a mystery how the political parties run in India. One thing is for sure that majority of politicians whether from national or regional parties had very humble origin but in a very short time they reach to unimaginable heights. It is true not only for top political leaders but middle or even low rung leaders. Yes we can understand how Narain Murthy has built his software company brick by brick, but cannot understand how hundreds of politicians have become overnight rich without any outwardly qualifications to carry out any worthwhile profession. When moneymaking is the only profession in politics, police, custom, excise, RTO, Passport office, Income tax and so on, what type of governance can we get. Each bribe is received with compromise on legality of an act. Each illegal act grows bigger and then when it goes out of control no one knows.
In such scenario, how can we even think that system will be revamped. There will be cosmetic changes of more units of NSG, some state level shake ups .But at the end of it very messiah will turn out to be a false one. They are part of the same system with different labels. Someone claims he is patriotic lawbreaker and alleges others as antinational law breaker. But once an illegality starts, no one has control on where it stops. We have had enough of false hopes in the past. Even after emergency when Janata Party was formed under patronage of Jay Prakash Narain, my generation had thought that it was the end of chaos in Indian political system and dawn of a new era. Our hopes were shattered in a very short time. Somewhere under our anger for present situation we have already resigned to our fate that things will only go from bad to worse. I hope there is a solution to come out of this. Can we see light at the end of the tunnel? It is only possible with a political revolution when and how no one knows.
Let all the best brains in industry, academics, in all professions and all walk of life join together. Let there be brain storming at multiple levels and find a solution. Let every minister work like a CEO of his ministry. Let everyone from peon to top boss in every department be accountable for his actions and delivery of service to public without any bribe. Let there be respect of law in all spheres of life. This cannot be done by those who have joined government only to make money and abuse their power. If we can have dedicated professionals in private sector who carry out their duties only for love of it without getting any monetary benefit other than regular salary, why we cannot have similar persons in government? The path for coming out of our difficult situation is not easy. But if we move in right direction we can clear this mess slowly. But do not expect a single messiah to take us out of our miseries. We all have to become messiahs to take ourselves out of this.
In the aftermath of recent unfortunate incidents in Mumbai, there is predictable and justifiable anger from all the cross-section of people. There is a demand for increased security and stringent laws. But the malady runs deep. Trust it, nothing substantial is going to come out of it, because the system is rotten to the core. There is only going to be a round of musical chair between the sets of politicians, and new establishment is not going to be any better than new one. What India today needs is a revolution of a kind, which looks to be an impossible dream.
Let us examine the ground realities. Almost everyone agrees that behind the whole planning and execution of ghastly operation were local contacts who must have organized logistic and supported in many other ways. This requires a very well organized establishment having resources at all levels. Which are the organizations who can carry provide such support. How do they grow so strong which enables them to challenge the might of the state at such level? Obviously they do not grow overnight. The finance for their activity does not materialize all of a sudden. They are operating and indulging in activities which give them power for a long-long time with full knowledge of establishment which includes police, customs, and of course political masters.
To begin with let us talk of drug syndicates. They are one of the most organized crime mafia. The drugs are not locally produced. They originate from Afghanistan and through Pakistan there is a continuous movement to India. The resources under this mafia are unimaginable. They have a distribution network which any consumer goods company will envy. The street peddler is at the lowest rung of this syndicate. Even a college student knows where the drugs are available. Can any Police-man pretend that the police are unaware of existence of this network? It is under their very eyes and with their patronage that these activities are going on. Right from delivery at street level to smuggling in India in large quantities, everywhere law enforcement agencies which also include customs and police are hand in glove with these operators. So these operators have capabilities to arrange for illegal entry of anything weapons included in India. Remember in 1993 blast like of custom officer Thapa not only helped in smuggling in of RDX but actually escorted the consignment safely through their zones. It does not matter whether they were actually aware of actual consignment or not, but they were very much aware of illegality of whole operation. Does anybody think that there is any change in ground realities? No, everything is going on as smoothly as earlier and that is the reason that narcotic drugs are available to anyone wanting these.
It is no secret that police and other enforcement agencies are involved in every illegal activity going on in Mumbai and every big or small city. It is a common knowledge that most of custom and police officers as well as small and big political leaders are involved in illegal activities and are worth hundreds of crores. Does anyone think that state home minister is not aware of rampant corruption in police at all levels? Right from employment to selected postings, all are for sale. From a street vendor to encroacher to crime mafia are all known to Police and pay regular bribe to police to look the other way. Even Dawood Ebrahim started his career as road side vendor of smuggled goods and graduated to a full time smuggler. Once in the world of crime he had to either grow or perish. A smuggler or a drug syndicate does not exist if there is no sales outlet existing. These are known to common people. Can government agencies be in dark about these? If will is there the backbone of these illegal operations can be broken in no time. But that will also stop flow of black money to police and their political masters. Hawala operators who play a significant role in transfer of money for all antinational activities are well known to everyone who wants to use their services. If there are rampant illegal operations going on every where how can we even think of security. Unless corruption is struck at its root from a lowly constable in police or clerk in custom to higher levels we cannot feel safe.
It is a mystery how the political parties run in India. One thing is for sure that majority of politicians whether from national or regional parties had very humble origin but in a very short time they reach to unimaginable heights. It is true not only for top political leaders but middle or even low rung leaders. Yes we can understand how Narain Murthy has built his software company brick by brick, but cannot understand how hundreds of politicians have become overnight rich without any outwardly qualifications to carry out any worthwhile profession. When moneymaking is the only profession in politics, police, custom, excise, RTO, Passport office, Income tax and so on, what type of governance can we get. Each bribe is received with compromise on legality of an act. Each illegal act grows bigger and then when it goes out of control no one knows.
In such scenario, how can we even think that system will be revamped. There will be cosmetic changes of more units of NSG, some state level shake ups .But at the end of it very messiah will turn out to be a false one. They are part of the same system with different labels. Someone claims he is patriotic lawbreaker and alleges others as antinational law breaker. But once an illegality starts, no one has control on where it stops. We have had enough of false hopes in the past. Even after emergency when Janata Party was formed under patronage of Jay Prakash Narain, my generation had thought that it was the end of chaos in Indian political system and dawn of a new era. Our hopes were shattered in a very short time. Somewhere under our anger for present situation we have already resigned to our fate that things will only go from bad to worse. I hope there is a solution to come out of this. Can we see light at the end of the tunnel? It is only possible with a political revolution when and how no one knows.
Let all the best brains in industry, academics, in all professions and all walk of life join together. Let there be brain storming at multiple levels and find a solution. Let every minister work like a CEO of his ministry. Let everyone from peon to top boss in every department be accountable for his actions and delivery of service to public without any bribe. Let there be respect of law in all spheres of life. This cannot be done by those who have joined government only to make money and abuse their power. If we can have dedicated professionals in private sector who carry out their duties only for love of it without getting any monetary benefit other than regular salary, why we cannot have similar persons in government? The path for coming out of our difficult situation is not easy. But if we move in right direction we can clear this mess slowly. But do not expect a single messiah to take us out of our miseries. We all have to become messiahs to take ourselves out of this.
No comments:
Post a Comment