It will not be very wrong to say that to a large extent corruption takes place with the connivance of our political masters. Politicians have this compulsion of gathering money to achieve and maintain political power. Unless we tackle corruption perpetrated by politicians, no commission, committee or Jan Lokpal Bill can reduce corruption.
Basic question - why are our politicians corrupt (or like Manmohan Singh turn a blind eye towards corruption)? The roots of corruption lie in our political system. Any party needs 51% of elected representatives to form government, be it in state or centre. Since parties are not able to win 51% of the seats, they have to either buy MLAs/MPs (to make-up 51%) or form coalition Government. For buying MPs/MLAs parties need to generate black money and for forming coalition government parties have to offer posts of Ministers to their coalition partners, who wield immense power and cannot be checked by the Prime Minister or Chief Minister and make money while they can. Besides this, the Ruling party is unable to stick to its promised agenda because of arm twisting by its coalition partners.
To sum up, there is no way corruption can be reduced (forget about eradication) from India unless our political system is rectified. There are other systems followed in different countries which tackle this problem of 51% representation.
I am surprised, why no-body talks about correcting our political system, and we are wasting energy in devising inconsequential schemes for tackling corruption.
(Contributed by Tishya Kumar Bhatia, Ann Arbor, USA)
Basic question - why are our politicians corrupt (or like Manmohan Singh turn a blind eye towards corruption)? The roots of corruption lie in our political system. Any party needs 51% of elected representatives to form government, be it in state or centre. Since parties are not able to win 51% of the seats, they have to either buy MLAs/MPs (to make-up 51%) or form coalition Government. For buying MPs/MLAs parties need to generate black money and for forming coalition government parties have to offer posts of Ministers to their coalition partners, who wield immense power and cannot be checked by the Prime Minister or Chief Minister and make money while they can. Besides this, the Ruling party is unable to stick to its promised agenda because of arm twisting by its coalition partners.
To sum up, there is no way corruption can be reduced (forget about eradication) from India unless our political system is rectified. There are other systems followed in different countries which tackle this problem of 51% representation.
I am surprised, why no-body talks about correcting our political system, and we are wasting energy in devising inconsequential schemes for tackling corruption.
(Contributed by Tishya Kumar Bhatia, Ann Arbor, USA)
2 comments:
I feel very strongly against certain terms used by you "masters", "ruling" etc. We are not their servants or their subjects. They are our representatives and dependent upon our goodwill - if anything we are their masters. This idea needs acceptance by one and all.
And the fact that such people are our representatives speaks volumes about our own integrity. But yes, I do agree that it is the political class that needs a major overhaul.
The usage "masters" is supposed to be sarcastic. That is the way our politicians behave. Once they are elected, they are there to bargain, sell, barter their position. There is hardly any provision to remove them if they work against the interest of their constituency. Usage is not meant to degrade ourselves.
"Ruling Party" is defined by Wikipedia as:
"The ruling party or governing party in a parliamentary system is the political party or coalition of the majority in parliament. Within a parliamentary system"
So, therefore there should not be any problem in using expression "Ruling Party".
Post a Comment