You are a Delhite or even Indian, fed up with corruption and hoping Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will root out corruption, well I’ve a gift for you: a big “F*ck You!”
Since AAP is in Delhi, I’ll speak only with my experiences, we Indian love corruption or in decent terms “shortcuts”. Shortcuts are not bad thing, I’m very confident its a powerful tool. They say “Necessity is mother of all invention” but don’t you realize that this Invention made some troubles shorter, what it created is another issue.
Coming back to point, taking shortcuts is more in our habit but corruption is like our bloodline. You are driving your car and get pulled over for whatever reason, do you pull out “your contacts” before license? There is a queue and for some reason you are in hurry to break the queue, jump so many people and get your things done. I don’t say everyone does it neither I can say everyone is not doing it, because I see it, everyday!
Instead of increasing the infrastructure, Government gives perks to shorten the queue but in process they make many without any credible result. Reservations, freebies, unwanted attention, deliberate pull-downs, they are just part of our life. Everyone is trying to fix a problem but no one is trying to solve a problem. The problem is implementation and that is where we go slack. We have rules for every situation, at least we should’ve learnt a lot from past 67+ odd years but instead we are still being divided based on caste, creed, religion, sex, social status etc. What Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel did we are undoing it for past so many years.
Note: The below is extend version of above, which was drafted on January 8, 2014 but was unpublished – probably for this day.
Now Arvind Kejriwal has quit citing Jan Lok Pal bill is not passed but was Aam Aadmi Party trying to solve the problem? No action on Common Wealth Games scam, free water, discounted electricity, discount to those who didn’t pay bill and stole illegally to support his so-called agitation, movement of bus-depot (addition budget over and above for creation and destruction), no women army, racial discrimination, protection of own minister by protesting against Police but not for his own minister actions (for which later Ashutosh says has behavioural problem and he chose him as law minister!), proposal reservation in Delhi University (a nationalised university), Kashmir issue, condemning rapes during Sheila Dikshit time but no heed in his period and all is Delhi Police fault. There will be some bright sides and one of which was probably Rain Basera but then why nothing on meter checks for water and electricity (many tamper it and then being given 50% discount), free water to those who have meter (10% of Delhi but those without meter – why not initiate to have meter installed in parallel). When CNG prices fell, why autos should ply on same rates (is ₹15/KG a small amount)? Why give power to parents to dismiss teachers, when without doubt parents will always find their kids to be right. Why not have principals in check who in turn control their teachers. What Arvind Kejriwal did was showing that common public have the power but I’ll say why don’t top level be strengthened and all acts enforced appropriately like in a pyramid structure to enforce which will curb corruption from grass-root, bottom to top.
When constitution was formed wasn’t the quota and reservation policy only for 50 years but then it was extended. Why? Reason provided was the oppressed are still not given opportunity. A big joke on the face of citizens of India. These reservations are known to people living in towns and cities but in rural parts of India, still the Khap Panchayats rule!
The above is a striking example of implementation failure. If you observe closely there is another grave issue lurking, the responsibility factor. India is not a small country but countries devastated in World Wars are also faring better. I’ll go to another example here. How you got your license? Exam, practical, both or paid? There is another category which applied for motorcycle but is driving a car and had not been verified for it. Why is it so? Where we lack? Everyone is in hurry to get things done and this creates chaos, chaos creates mob and mob does not have a brain. In the end we behave like headless chicken bumping everywhere and being frustrated and reducing productivity. We have traffic rules on lane driving too but do we follow it? A implementation failure.
Lets try applying for a Passport. You can get it two ways, Normal or Tatkal. Why Tatkal was introduced, it was for those who need passport quickly but what about Normal process? What is the normal timeline of Passport? In the end, everyone runs toward Tatkal and creating a burden and deadlock there and in process delaying the system that was made to make things fast and efficient. Isn’t it the case of Indian Railways that we fond to curse – IRCTC. I know many people who will not book their tickets on time because Tatkal is there. We do not plan our holidays but we take as we deem fit. VacationsLeaves are good but everyone trying Tatkal, we know what it does to the system. Those booking impromptu will of course not have planned their tasks in office – which means a file move delayed. The butterfly effect.
That’s too much but I’ll drop a letter. Do you know Indian Postal Services still exist but what we prefer courier because it is safe, secure and quick with tracking. Do you know Speed Post does the same thing. Of course people don’t trust it. Why? Because it does not look fancy and they don’t have glass doors. Post Offices are dirty, slow and officials are not up to the mark of private players. Reality check: You don’t visit them so they are missing revenue and in something is loss making, no company will give it the best of its effort.
Claims of Govt. PSU not upto the mark, its again the simple reason: responsibility. If there is something time bound with appropriate present on good work and strict implementation to keep a check that everything is clock-perfect, I don’t think any one will dare cross the line. I don’t know what this Arvind Kejriwal Jan Lok Pal bill is but there is only one solution to corruption, make everything time bound. How? If Normal Passport takes one month, why do you need RTI for it, the authorising committee will take action automatically on the person who kept the file on hold longer than expected. Jumped the queue, watchdog should pull the person over and make him go back to the queue. This may create ruckus but that’s for short time till people understand the simple fact,
वक्त से पहले अौर नसीब से ज़्यादा किसी को कुछ नही मिलता।