Vigilant India, Prosperous India Poem by Alok Agarwal

India is one of the emerging and promising economies of the 21st century; but is marred by three problems:

1. Poverty
2. Illiteracy
3. Corruption

Though all the above three issues are inter-connected but the issue of corruption is the epicenter of the issues. It is one of the sole reasons that prevents from taking a giant leap forward in 21st century. It has and is preventing India from taking a central role in world affairs. Due to corruption, basic infrastructure of education is not present. In cases, where it is present public has little faith over public education. The public schools are often found in a dingy condition and lack basic amenities. The quality of teaching is also questionable. Only a portion of the funds which are allocated towards such schemes is able to penetrate the clumsy system of corruption. This means a large population remains uneducated and unskilled and is unable to contribute to the development of the nation. The illiterate population also suffers from lack of opportunities and remains poor.

This creates a vicious circle which becomes very difficult to break.

The following data is worth mentioning, "A study conducted by Transparency International in 2005 recorded that more than 62% of Indians had at some point or another paid a bribe to a public official to get a job done. In 2008, another report showed that about 50% of Indians had first hand experience of paying bribes or using contacts to get services performed by public offices, however, in 2019 their Corruption Perceptions Index ranked the country 80th place out of 180, reflecting steady decline in perception of corruption among people." (Source: Wikipedia)

The big budget government schemes such as MNREGA, Swacch Bharat Mission, and other schemes are frequently under scanner for siphoning of funds. The public spending of government is always under scrutiny. The recent Rafale deal, allocation of 2G spectrum, Bofors case is some note-worthy and cringe-worthy examples.

A large amount of India's wealth is suspected to be in tax havens, esp. Swiss banks. Even one of the populist anti-corruption schemes of ‘note-ban' which was supposed to bring out black money has been surrounded by controversies. Critics site poor management on the scheme of things and the fact that 99.3% of money was deposited back in the banks raises serious questions. This was coupled by reduction in GDP. Though the intent of the demonetization seemed right, but yet it failed to achieve its objective.

Statistics show bulk of corruption is in the field of real estate, mining, transportation and defense. There is a myriad of reasons that make a field centre of corruption; some of which are presence of middleman, complex laws and procedures and lack of competition in open market. The presence of stringent and complex clauses in big value public procurement tenders often end up in vigilance commission. The mala fide intentions of the relevant office do come in limelight due to active vigilantism of the whistle-blower. However, this comes at a cost of delay in tendering procedure and lack of public confidence in bureaucracy.

The strong nexus of politicians, bureaucrats, business houses, media houses and even judiciary has made corruption a force which is almost impossible to reckon with.

Media which is regarded as a fourth pillar of democracy and is considered a watchdog of every country is being silenced. We are consuming populist news instead of relevant news. There is no debate and discussion on the policies rolled out by the government but instead we are forced to watch same news on all channels. The same content is telecasted by all media houses which possess political affiliations to one political party or another. Day in and day out, it appears that repeat telecast of badly scripted movie is being telecasted and that too in all channels.

Media was supposed to be vigilant and bring to light the harsh and blatant reality of our country. But that is nowhere to be observed. Free speech is being curtailed often in the pretext of false and baseless allegations. In case, someone breaks the nexus and chooses to freely express his opinion; then he is branded as ‘deshdrohi' and/or ‘contempt of some person related to of belonging to ruling party'.

The denial of criticism by the ruling elite has hampered the prosperity of India in a very negative way. The opaque laws, lengthy procedures, dearth of adequate manpower in government institutions, discretionary powers of bureaucrats work like maggots in the India economic dream.

There are many socially responsible people who are having the zeal to serve the nation through whistle-blowing. However, the fate of Satyendra Dubey and Manjunath somehow prevents the common man to become a whistle-blower. Despite bearing the agony of seeing your nation crumble infront of your eyes, we are just mute spectators. Some of the journalists have to work outside the domain of national territory to safeguard themselves and their family members. Those who work in India become puppets in the hands of ruling class.

One of the steps that can be taken in this regard is to have a strict policy on whistleblowers. The existing policy on whistle-blowers is deeply inadequate as it does not incorporate state government employees and private sector despite the fraud of ‘Satyam'. There is also criticism on the policy on the point that the law was passed without inviting public opinion which is against the working culture of ministries.

The only mechanism to churn itself out of this labyrinth is for citizens to become vigilant. In a democratic setup like ours; it is the will of its people that prevails. The government is of the people, by the people and for the people. Whatever may be the back story of 21st century India, the reign is ultimately of the citizens. It is the fundamental duty of each and every citizen of India to, "Develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform". The reform can be brought by socially active and vigilant citizens.

The coming into force of RTI Act, lokpal bill, presence of independent Vigilance commission and promoting and increasing usage of digital media has reduced the probability of corruption; but still a lot is still to be achieved. The increasing usage of digitization of services by GOI towards its citizens has meant that corruption has taken a back seat in India's quest towards prosperity. Digital India initiative has come a long way forward and is taking big leaps in realizing that dreams of 1.33 billon citizens to have a corruption free India.

Despite the numerous obstacles that char the path of vigilantism; it is still the path worth following. It is our moral duty to raise voice against the oppressor for it is because of the silence of the good men that world suffers. Patriotism is not something that is sung in the form of ballads but is something that is acted upon. It is the least a common man can do for his country.