All of us criticize the "bribe taker". Let it be the local traffic constable, or any government servant in any government organization. But we never look at what causes them to take bribe. ( I am only trying to justify the position of low level bribe takers in a government organization, many of whom I have come across being "forced bribe takers"). Bribes in lower level of bureaucracy can be best explained by the trickle down effect of corruption!!!
In one of my previous blogs, I had mentioned about the apathy of a traffic police constable and the terrible life he is being forced to live in. In this post, I am trying to extrapolate and generalize this concept, i.e. the plight of any ordinary government employee who earns an average of less then 30,000rs/month.
At this age, cost of everything right from education, to daily rations, travel etc have become so high that the lower class and middle class have found it virtually impossible to bridge the gap between expenditure and income. India has become a living model of how the government policies can be designed in such a way that rich get rich and poor get poorer.
Coming back to the core point of this blog, why does some officer take bribe? Simple, because he has to take it. He cant get decent food, he cant get his kids educated in good schools or colleges and ya he cant provide his family a decent place to live in. In order to bridge this gap between expenditure and income he is forced to take a bribe.
I will like to give the example of a real life incident (that does not involve a government employee). Once I had taken an auto-rickshaw from Chennai CMBT (main bus stand) to my home in chrompet (roughly 20KMs away from CMBT). Over the coarse of journey I had a chat with the auto-driver about how life is getting tough for normal middle class people and what the government did (or does) for making the condition better. He begin telling me about his personal life experiences and how he is fighting to get his three kids educated so that atleast they can have a better life then his. He was forced to give "capitation fees" to get his kids admitted in private schools. Just hearing at his plight made me realize how much of a comfortable life I am living in.
Though this auto-driver (or any auto driver) charged me extra for the ride. This is an indirect form of bribe. But again he is forced to charge me extra. If he had some help from the government, he would have charged me right!
Imagine a situation when cost of petrol is as low as 10rs per liter!!! Ya, it can be a possible if the government brings back all the black money!!, and it makes better use of the gas in KG basin(There is a separate scam involving KG basin and Ambanis, which is set to explode in the next few days). They would be able to provide enough subsidy to the poor people (like the auto-rickshaw driver). Petrol cost is one thing that affects the life of majority of the people in this country. Right from the vegetable vendor, autoricksaw guys to any ordinary citizen of this country.
Why cant the government bring in effective policies to control effective distribution of PDS of foodgrains? Why is the opposition silent on it? The answer is straight forward. All the political parties and its members get their monthly money (read it as 'salary') from this theft!! Why cant the government do something about it? If we had effective PDS, the bribe taker need not take bribe. They need not go to the local ration shop to buy foodgrains at highly inflated rates.
The bribe taker at the lower level is taking money which indirectly reaches the people in the higher level of bureaucracy! And therefore rich get richer and poor get poorer.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
Chennai - a tribute to its people
It was around this time of the year in 2004, I moved to chennai. I always thought I was a north indian and would never fit among chennai people. But things changed as soon as I joined high school, all my fears evaporated. People here are very accommodating. Initially, I had to overcome the pressure due to my average performance in my 10th board exams, and coming to chennai was like blessing in disguise....Chennai helped me to adapt, helped me to perform better academically and ya taught me more the most important lesson in life - " the significance of hard-work" !!
The people of this city give lot of importance to traditions and its values. Almost all my classmates in school would visit the temple daily. It does not mean that they are less fashionable, neither are they averse to modern technology.
Chennai today has got a lot many new hotels with varying cuisine. But people still love to eat idlis in murugan idli shop, panipuri in gangothri, sweets in anandhabhavan and ya ofcourse gheeroast in saravana bhavan! :)
The people of this city are aware of whats happening around them. For example, If you talk to anyone who is supporting anna hazare and his campaign against the corruption, you would realize that Chennai people know what they are protesting against. They are aware of the weak points in the government's version of lokpal and why anna hazare's janlokpal thou being "draconian" is better off.
Many of my northi friends say chennai lacks a night life. And therefore does not qualify as a modern city. They go the extent of saying that chennai is modern village!
But chennai begs to differ. People here do not enjoy night life. Nights are meant for sleeping and chennai people beg to differ from the rest! And this is the beauty of chennai.
People here love what they get. A very hot day does not deter people from going to beach, and come rain people enjoy that too:)
Another important aspect of chennai is "affordable housing". Chennai can today claim to be among the most developed cities in India. But still you can find houses at reasonable rent. You can earn 20K/month, live a good life and still save up half the salary. the same is not possible in bangalore or mumbai!
The temples, the silsarees, the beaches, the shopping malls, the hotels, mahabalipuram, the flower sellers, Tnagar, pongal, diwali....all make chennai what it is!!!And now chennai people have adopted themself to start loving the automobile and IT companies too....
Happy birthday Chennai! May the spirit of Chennai live forever!
The people of this city give lot of importance to traditions and its values. Almost all my classmates in school would visit the temple daily. It does not mean that they are less fashionable, neither are they averse to modern technology.
Chennai today has got a lot many new hotels with varying cuisine. But people still love to eat idlis in murugan idli shop, panipuri in gangothri, sweets in anandhabhavan and ya ofcourse gheeroast in saravana bhavan! :)
The people of this city are aware of whats happening around them. For example, If you talk to anyone who is supporting anna hazare and his campaign against the corruption, you would realize that Chennai people know what they are protesting against. They are aware of the weak points in the government's version of lokpal and why anna hazare's janlokpal thou being "draconian" is better off.
Many of my northi friends say chennai lacks a night life. And therefore does not qualify as a modern city. They go the extent of saying that chennai is modern village!
But chennai begs to differ. People here do not enjoy night life. Nights are meant for sleeping and chennai people beg to differ from the rest! And this is the beauty of chennai.
People here love what they get. A very hot day does not deter people from going to beach, and come rain people enjoy that too:)
Another important aspect of chennai is "affordable housing". Chennai can today claim to be among the most developed cities in India. But still you can find houses at reasonable rent. You can earn 20K/month, live a good life and still save up half the salary. the same is not possible in bangalore or mumbai!
The temples, the silsarees, the beaches, the shopping malls, the hotels, mahabalipuram, the flower sellers, Tnagar, pongal, diwali....all make chennai what it is!!!And now chennai people have adopted themself to start loving the automobile and IT companies too....
Happy birthday Chennai! May the spirit of Chennai live forever!
Sunday, August 21, 2011
The power or social media
The various social media sites have had a tremendous impact on how news reaches the people in this world. Even till a decade back, a government would survive even if there was a massive disconnect between what he promises and what he delivers. But now there is a vehicle to connect information and people. In recent months we have seen protesters take on the government by organized street rallies, sign online petitions and reach out to more people. Social media sites like twitter and facebook has made information reach people faster and more accurately.
Social media as such by its design promotes democracy! It presents the government and its leaders with challenges, challenges where they have to constantly live upto their promise! There are a couple of instances where I have seen people, ya, ordinary people take up social media to reach out to the needy.
During the recent mumbai blasts (13/7), large number of people not only offered others a free ride home but also provided them with accommodation for the night stay! people used #google docs, #twitter and #facebook to reach out the needy. Injured people who needed blood were able to connect to possible donors and when the phone lines were dead, people used twitter to communicate their safety to their relatives.
The present uprising of the people of India against corruption and the inefficiency of the government in tackling corruption has also been vastly helped by social media sites. People were able to communicate about fasting sites to large number of people. My own parents took part in a candle light march in marina beach after coming to know about it via a twitter! such has been the reach...
Even in corporate level, social media sites have come to their rescue during difficult times. Most of us would have seen the youtube video showing two disgruntled employees contaminating the food they were about to deliver..it become a rage then..It was a nightmarish week for the company. dominos fired back via youtube and twitter...they uploaded their own video what they were doing to fix the situation..this way they could connect directly to their customers..dominos were able to come out unscathed from this potentially catastrophic event..such is the power of social media..
Social media as such by its design promotes democracy! It presents the government and its leaders with challenges, challenges where they have to constantly live upto their promise! There are a couple of instances where I have seen people, ya, ordinary people take up social media to reach out to the needy.
During the recent mumbai blasts (13/7), large number of people not only offered others a free ride home but also provided them with accommodation for the night stay! people used #google docs, #twitter and #facebook to reach out the needy. Injured people who needed blood were able to connect to possible donors and when the phone lines were dead, people used twitter to communicate their safety to their relatives.
The present uprising of the people of India against corruption and the inefficiency of the government in tackling corruption has also been vastly helped by social media sites. People were able to communicate about fasting sites to large number of people. My own parents took part in a candle light march in marina beach after coming to know about it via a twitter! such has been the reach...
Even in corporate level, social media sites have come to their rescue during difficult times. Most of us would have seen the youtube video showing two disgruntled employees contaminating the food they were about to deliver..it become a rage then..It was a nightmarish week for the company. dominos fired back via youtube and twitter...they uploaded their own video what they were doing to fix the situation..this way they could connect directly to their customers..dominos were able to come out unscathed from this potentially catastrophic event..such is the power of social media..
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