Sandesh Goel

"Power corrupts", and power is an integral part of democracy where we elect our representatives and vest them with sweeping powers. Then, why complain about corruption, isn't it only to be expected? Perhaps corruption is the equivalent of the executive bonus schemes in corporate world. I strongly believe that the reason majority of smart folks enter politics today is for the power it gives them to serve their vested interests. If we completely eliminate corruption, why would the smartest of folks enter politics? An honest man in politics stands to earn a pittance!! Does that mean that in a non-corrupt government (assuming we can achieve that ideal), we will be left with well-intentioned, but largely mediocre, folks running our country? Can we expect mediocre talent to have the vision and application to take our country to new heights? Are there enough brilliant people out there who are willing to make huge financial sacrifices just to be a part of the government? I doubt...

It is interesting to see all the intelligentsia coming in with their magnifying glasses and scrutinizing and critizing the minutae of the proposed draft of the bill. Constructive criticism will no doubt lead to a better bill, but I have an axe to grind with those who are summarily dismissive of the entire proposal. I think we need to step back and look at the larger picture here. It is not the time to stand in impartial judgement over our civic activists. I don't think it's sufficient to be intellectually honest in these times, you have to be politically savvy. You have to figure out which side you are on!!! Politicians are very good at it. When the chips are down, they'll do anything to counter it, and get as close to power as possible. It is them that we are dealing with. Take the allegations against the bhushan's. Each allegation has another dimension to it, which involves politicians. And even if true, I think it ought to be much more damaging to the politicians tha...

I was intrigued the the criticism of the recent movement against corruption (led by Anna Hazare) by a select group of intellectuals. They claim that this threatens to subvert democracy by undermining the politicians, who are our elected leaders. But, what exactly does an elected leader mean in today's India? What motivates a person to run for elections? We all know that election expenses run into crores, and the winner of the election can not recover that much money on a complete lifetime of a politician's salary. So, how can an honest person even stand for an election without going bankrupt? Unless we fix this, we are stuck with politicians who are forced to recover their political expenses through corruption. And once the greed sets in, they don't stop at just recovering the expenses, they end up making tens and hundreds of times the money they spent. So, what's the solution? I propose that we should forbid the election candidates to spend even a single rupee on campa...

Till sometime back, I had this strong feeling for the need to donate regularly to institutions involved in charity work. But, looking at the corruption all around, I am increasingly starting to feel that it is the wrong problem to focus on for well-intentioned folks. India has seen phenomenal growth over the past few years, and is expected to continue doing so for many more years. The growth brings huge amounts of money into govt coffers through various taxes. But, where is all that going? I'm pretty convinced that if this is properly routed into public welfare, we would have enough resources to provide basic education, health and nutrition to all, something which most of the charitable organizations are busy doing and raising money for. But, this does not happen due to the rampant corruption. Starting from the ministers who approve these projects, all the way to the petty contractor/vendor who is supposed to seal the deal, everyone takes a cut, and hardly 10-15% of it goes into th...

I recently came across this facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/IndiACor), and decided to support the cause. The single biggest factor which led me to get involved is this guy named Arvind Kejrival. He is an activist and was one of the main champions of the RTI movement. He is now championing the JLP (Jan Lokpal) movement, which asks for a citizen body to be formed which is powerful enough to punish corrupt politicians. I did some reading on their approach and what they are trying to do and how. I felt that what they are trying to do makes sense. Basically, corruption goes all the way to the top. Think about what happens if the boss is corrupt. Everybody in the organization gets a license to be corrupt, since any complaints against corruption are not entertained. I heard this anecdote about corruption in a UP city called Aligarh. Bribes were rampant in the transport department and you typically had to pay about INR 10K to get your shipment across. An honest senior bureaucrat came to...