My publications in Alive magazine

A small achievement but it made me feel proud to be published by the Alive magazine of Delhi Press Group. Have a look:

Alive magazine Coverpage

The "Debut" section of Alive published my article "NOTA vs. RTR"

The second article "Deciding factors of Delhi Assembly Elections 2013"

A disease known as corruption

First published on http://indiaopines.com/stop-corruption-india/

Corruption today can be called a malaise attached to the largest democracy of the world i.e. India. From getting your birth certificate to your driving license to getting a loan passed to build your home, nothing goes without giving a bribe. The numbers of scams appearing one after another, plus the amounts of money roped in, acts like a slap on the face of an honest civilian who is working hard day and night to feed his family. In a developing nation like ours, the development will soon cease instead of spreading. The citizens have become so much accustomed to it that the dividing lines between the corrupt and non-corrupt are merging.

By definition, corruption can be called a problem of routine deviation from the established norms set by public officials and parties. World Bank defines it as the misuse of public property for private gain. It can range, however, from embezzlement of public money to abuse of power i.e. asking for bribes. A study conducted by Transparency International in 2005, said that in India, more than 62% of Indians have had a first-hand experience of paying bribes or influencing to get jobs done in public offices successfully. Later in 2012, India was ranked 94^th out of 176 countries in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index, tying with countries like Colombia, Djibouti, Greece, Mongolia, etc.

As revealed by many studies, “The more the corruption, the slower the economic growth.” Other effects include the rise of inflation, increase in black money, an unstable marketplace and risk of investment, thus the rich becoming richer and the poor becoming poorer. At times, corruption in India is so habitual that it is believed that it’s a natural or inborn feature of the Indian democracy.

Ways to control

The increasing corruption in India has increased the frustration of the people. this was witnessed when the Aam aadmi came on the streets to support the activist, Anna Hazare who sat on a fast. He had the demand of implementing the Lokpal bill that will appoint a Lokpal to look into the officials indulging in corrupt practices at both state and central level. All over India, there was an immense support reckoned to Hazare by the commoners and the Government finally had to submit to the demands of the people.

·        Stringent actions must be taken to ensure that corruption is reduced. Since the government itself is seen involving into scams like 2G spectrum scam, Commonwealth scam, Adarsh Housing scam, Coal mining scam, etc, the citizens and the statutory bodies must take initiative to curb this malpractice. People have taken initiatives to fight against corruption through citizen websites and social media activism like ipaidabribe.com and India Against Corruption. The problem still is slow working judiciary that takes time to pronounce any conviction in most corruption charges. Moreover, with the growth of cities, corruption also grows as more and more intermediaries are needed between the central government and the people.

·        Setting up of strict laws and along with them, strict enforcement of these laws will help fight against corruption. As indicated by an article in Harvard International Review (HIR), there are plans to update anti-corruption laws by “eliminating loopholes and introduce an amnesty period of three months during which all those who have black money can claim it legally by paying an income tax of 21%”

·        There are bodies like CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) and CVC (Central Vigilance Commission to look into cases of high officials getting involved into corruption. There should be no control of the government on these bodies and they should act independently to bring in effective results.

·        Research indicates that India can control corruption by training its civil servants to a more professional level with skills in auditing, accountancy, and legal matters. If this step would have taken at the time of liberalization, the scenario could have been much different as oversight and scrutiny from within the administration would have increased. Moreover, there would have been a greater understanding and respect of administrative procedures, thereby reducing corruption and increasing development in India.

The nation’s reputation and the future of the youth are at a stake and it is the responsibility of the politicians as well as the bureaucrats to pave a path of bright future for the nation.

  

'Roar of the Lion' moves across Delhi !!!

            It has been 3 days since 29 September. The day, that came a day after the birthday of Bhagat Singh and 2 days prior to the third national holiday other than the Independence day and the Republic day of India – which also marks the birthday of the Father of our nation and also the second Prime Minister of India. The repercussions of the ‘सिंह xtZuk’ could still be felt. Every other person in Delhi has the same name in their talks. Offices, colleges, metro; Radio, hoardings, newspapers; applauds, critiques, the goods and the bads. Facebook posts and Twitter tweets of his have been already trending at the top. He knows how to mark his presence when the rulers are left to do nothing but grin and bite their nails on the mentioned whims and fancies of ‘Shehzada’.

            Being called as ‘Feku’, he has come a long way from publicizing and branding himself as ‘Vikas Purush’. He indeed knows how to handle his PR with the pluses of good oration skills and social media management. India Inc. under him may reach some successful avenues that are yet to be seen by the Indian history. However, governance of the country and the ‘good governance’ in a state cannot have the same place on the weighing balance.

            For proper handling of the two major departments – Foreign policy and defence that are excluded from the governing a state, demand a better skill set and experience. His state may stand as the testimony of the development that he has accomplished after two consecutive terms of rule but duplicating the same the national level would definitely not be a cakewalk.

            While the forums meet and the discussions happen on the political fate of India in the coming New Year, this guy is confidently expert in striking a chord among the commons. Till then, we await further ‘xtZuk’ !!!

India - A political paradox failing to rise up to the aspirations of youth

India is known to be the largest democracy in the whole world – we all know that, not something new. Democracy, by definition, is the govt. of the people, for the people and by the people; we all know that too. But I rather prefer calling democracy, the govt. off the people, far the people and bye the people. Offensive? Please don’t think I am not a patriot or I don’t love my India or am not proud of it. I am really proud of my nation and I am sorry for showing such pessimistic attitude. This is, however, a fact less heard but to which most of you agree with me.

I am one of the citizens of India who comes under that category of the society that is known to be the future of the nation. Yes, you guessed it right; I am part of the youth – youth who come under the age of 35, a chunk that forms 70% of the entire population of India. Yet, the political class of our nation has not been able to fulfil the aspirations of this huge chunk of population. In the recent years, there has been a spate of the scams that we have come across. Corruption seems like a monster that has dreadfully taken hold of the entire political system of ours.

You would be surprised to know that there exists a 40-year age gap between an average Indian Citizen (who is 25 years old) and an average Indian Cabinet minister (who is 65 years old). And mind you, these figures come from a survey conducted by ‘The Economist’. I do not deny the significance of the experience garnered over the age of 65 years but if that experience is utilized to guide those young bloods who are ultimately the future of the nation, that greying of hairs will not go in vain. But, our policy makers have caused utter disappointment to the youth of our country. We do not have well paying jobs; we do not have an education system that can give us hands-on skills to get well paying jobs, the prices of even the daily use products are so much that we end up spending the maximum part of what we earn. Are all these aspirations anything out of the world that the youth hopes to have from those who are running the country? Immense drainage to the nation’s exchequer causes burden on the part of the common man. Yes, our country has great achievers in name of Ambanis and Tatas but ultimately it is the common man who has to suffer. 

Coming back to the age gap between the citizen and the Cabinet minister of our country, I would also like to mention about the misrepresentation of the young ministers in our govt. If the ministers target the youth during their election campaigns why are they found aloof when making the policies and implementing the promises that they make? This dishonesty is their failure among the youth. 

Politics may be considered a dirty word for a majority of us but today’s youth has that zeal and enthusiasm to identify the loopholes of our political system and bring a change which starts at the grass root level. Of course, we are inexperienced, but then we also have the guts to fight and ultimately the strength to do it. Taking social media as tools of freedom of expression, we have long ways to go and together we can and we will do it.