27th December, 2010
A few days back my wife Neera suggested that we subscribe only to one instead of the customary three newspapers that we have been reading for a long time.
Why was I not spending time on reading these sources of information about the world?
Is it because there was too much of bad news being splashed all over?
Was it because the common man did not trust their objectivity due to their “ownership”?
Perhaps the biggest reason in my case has been the excessive coverage on “scams and corruption” without a single “big fish” being accountable for the same.
Last week we read about a junior officer of Tamil Nadu being jailed for one year for accepting a bribe of Rs 50 twenty years back!
On the other hand, big names in politics, bureaucracy and business who are” known” to be corrupt never suffer.
Why has our character become so weak?
Why is there so much cynicism about those in public life?
The growth of the “Maoist” movement, terrorism and the resurgence of militant trade union movement is due to this sharp erosion in values. When we see people in power become “greedy” and “loot” the common man, they are provoked to take up “violent” means to espouse their own “causes”.
How can we reverse this trend?
The time has come for “good people” to form a strong network.
In every community, we need to organize ourselves. Let us form associates of residents in every neighborhood. Let us choose those who are honest and fair to become our representatives. Let us involve local educational institute and honest NGO’s to join hands. Let us share stories about how inspite of the rampant corruption, honest people still manage to win in the long run.
Let us together fight corruption by resolving not to succumb to short cuts ourselves. Let us include “Ethics” as a core subject in every school, college and Institute of higher education.
-Anil Sachdev, Founder, SOIL