Indian Democracy is Cancer of Corruption which needs to be stamped out by Citizens

December 17, 2009
Dear Compatriot,
We are contacting you for a noble purpose. Every major problem we face today– individually or nationally– is rooted in CORRUPTION. We reconcile and adjust to it from time. We have launched a campaign against this malaise where awakened Indians like you can help in building up the momentum.

Today India is at crucial crossroads. On the one hand, we can boast of youthful reservoir of technological brainpower and a zooming industry; on the other, we have every component of governance crumbling. Chaos is creeping in. Let us have a look at our national scene:

1. It is no secret that there has been a steady degeneration in the quality of our politicians with every successive Lok Sabha becoming home to increasing number of criminals. In the previous Lok Sabha we had 123 tainted MPs; now we have 158 – 73 of them involved in serious crimes. They are steadily moving towards majority and the day is not far when they will gang-up to form a Government of ‘like-minded’ MPs/groups!

2. People have lost faith in police and civil Administration because remedies through these agencies have become too costly and unaffordable. Emergence of extra-constitutional power groups like Naxalites and Senas of various hues are replacing Administrative authority in various states. People at large find their dispensation of justice speedier and fairer. Little wonder, they have ‘liberated zones’ where the local Administration dare not venture! In other peaceful/progressive looking areas, the henchmen of local politicians rule the roost.

3. Basic amenities like health care are in no less pitiable state. While patients are left to languish and die in pathetically unhygienic conditions in government hospitals, there are doctors who are butchering people to trade kidneys, eyes and other human organs with impunity.

4. The option of judicial remedies is riddled with murkier complexities. We have it here straight from the horse’s mouth. Recording their own helplessness at the ‘collapse of criminal justice in the country’ during hearing of a high profile hit-and-run case of Delhi on 5th February 2009, the honourable Supreme Court went on to say, “What happened in the current case is the tip of the iceberg. This is a case of accident. We have seen cases involving smuggling of arms, RDX, narcotics where the accused get away. But we are helpless.” (TOI, 06 Feb 09).

5. We all have personal experiences where we have had to ‘negotiate and pay our way out’ of sinister traps of unscrupulous officers and stooges. Simple things like licenses, admissions, address verifications, medical certificates, FIR and so forth as nothing moves by rules. Money and/or ‘right contact’ can move everything that rules can’t.

It is time we woke up to the harsh realities that cannot be wished away. We have to act– and act now. For effective cleansing of the system, we have to start from the very top for which we have definite strategy and a time bound plan as explained in Shri Shambhu Dutta’s letter attached. Fortunately, in Shri Shambhu Dutta we have a Gandhian veteran, who, at the call of Mahatama Gandhi, courted imprisonment in the 1942 Quite India Movement by resigning his job as a young Civilian Gazetted Officer in the then IAOC. He met Gandhiji in 1944. In free India he again courted imprisonment by opposing the 1975 Emergency. For the last forty years he has been working from Delhi as a volunteer in the Servants of the People Society, founded by Lala Lajpat Rai and inaugurated by Gandhiji at Lahore in 1921. He is now the Hony. General Secretary of the Gandhian Satyagraha Brigade, Lajpat Bhawan, Lajpat Nagar, New Delhi 110024. The honourable Prime Minister, Minister of Law (Mr. Veerappa Moily) and other government departments have acknowledged his communication with positive assurance that the needful actions are being taken. Although no concrete steps are yet in sight despite these assurances, momentum is building up in the right direction eg, informing colleagues, friends and sensitising them to lend us their support in whatever manner they choose.

I, therefore, exhort you to please come forward and join this pious struggle that is against none but evils in our system. This is every Indian citizen’s war where everyone’s effort counts. There is none too poor, too weak or too old to wage this noble war. For the pessimists who say ‘Corruption cannot go’ let me assure that our joint effort shall surely injure and weaken it, if not kill, and deny it the express way. Those who are not opposing CORRUPTION are supporting it – and, therefore, helping it to flourish.

Your contribution– whatever form you choose– is going to be valuable in this effort. From the three options, you are welcome to choose the way in which you wish to lend support to this noble Cause. Kindly also forward this mail with your endorsement to your friends for wider circulation.

It shall be my pleasure to furnish further details if desired. Looking forward to your kind response.
With regards,
Yours sincerely,
Col Karan Kharb (Retd)
Gandhian Satyagraha Brigade
An All India NGO of Gandhian Persuasion, registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, Lajpat Bhavan, Lajpat Nagar– IV, New Delhi- 110024