M A I L B A G

Let’s wage a war against corruption

Apropos of H.K. Dua’s article “Conspiracy of silence: Politicians are comfortable with corruption” (April 8), I am not surprised that weeding out corruption has not been included in the campaign agenda of any political party in the elections. Why would they?

I sometimes wonder why there is no civil war in India when a servant’s family of six has no proper roof on their heads and their master’s family of three lives in a 10-room mansion. All these God’s men are in consipracy with the politicans, who keep on preaching to a common man that this is his destiny. That is why most Indians are not aware of their basic human rights.

A vigilant media and people who are awake can together do something to reverse the trend. There should be a mass boycott of bribery. Concerned political leaders, academics, students and NGOs can start a mission that nobody would offer bribe to anybody for any work done. If people show patience and are willing to endure the pain and discomfort for not getting their work done immediately without the help of bribe, then the corrupt people surely have no choice.

It is not the natural resources that make a country rich and successful. Look at Japan and Switzerland. It is the civic sense of people that take a country forward. The youth should follow the following principles that are key to success of all the rich nations:

Ethics and integrity, respect for each other’s rights, respect to the rule of law, and work culture and punctuality.

RAJ, Chandigarh

II

There is a subtle nexus between corruption and politics. Politicians are always at the receiving end with power brokers as their middlemen. For every piece of work from transfers, promotions, allotment of petrol outlets and plenty of such favours, there is a price tag running into lakhs of rupees. Important files refuse to reach their destination until some palms are greased. The files necessarily need to have a suitable tag of currency notes depending on the nature of work. Failure to do so may engender the babus to sleep over them.

Corruption not only corrodes a society but erodes its ability to manage its affairs. The roots of corruption are deep rooted in the entire Indian system of governance leading to a choking state that until some Messiah emerges to check the official loot and corrupt bureaucracy, nothing good can be expected.

H.K. Dua’s remedy for cleansing the political system of corruption by refusing to vote for the candidate who is known to have smudged his or her record is truly the need of the hour. Such candidates should outrightly be ousted from power. The media has to play a key role to spread this message to every nook and corner. This message should be an eye-opener for the contestants of the forthcoming elections.

ASHA NARANG, GND University, Amritsar

III

Apparently, corruption is no longer an issue because one may expose the other in return. People don’t take it seriously because even after massive campaign aided with media clips, the conviction rate is very low.

Politicians now make it sure that the party ticket remains with the family and offered to his/her son, daughter or a close relative. Sitting MPs, on being not given tickets, leave the party to join the other party to secure a berth again. Even after contesting against each other on different issues, they join hands after winning in the name of common agenda. The important ones, who are left out or if they lose an election, enter the Rajya Sabha through the back door.

The question is to whom should we vote? — choose between the lesser evil or abstain from voting. Both ways, democracy is the loser. We have to live with it unless there is a drastic improvement in the level of education.

Prof. G.K.S. SIDHU, S.D. College, Barnala

IV

I may cite a more recent example when the Punjab government doled out a one-time settlement for regularisation of building bylaw violations for lawbreakers at the cost of the law-abiding citizens. For such violations, legal notices had been issued as early as 2001 and the demolition cases have been hanging fire for long.

Apparently, influential lobbies had been hand in glove with bureaucrats and politicians for dragging cases or withholding demolition drives. These alliances together with the precipitating factor, the ensuing Lok Sabha elections, have climaxed into the amnesty scheme as mentioned above and then the enactment of legislation for protecting the offenders. The remedial measures against corruption taken by Capt Amarinder Singh have dampened.

H.K. Dua’s article merits serious attention. Vernacular newspapers need to convey similar sentiments to the readers. This would help people vote for the right candidate in the ensuing elections. What is needed is a relentless campaign against bad governance and those found wanting. The media should keep a constant watch on the functioning of the ruling elite.

Dr GURKIRPAL SINGH, Ludhiana

Indians first and last I have read with interest A.J. Philip’s middle “Medals — stolen or otherwise” (March 27). It is our proud privilege that Nobel Laureate Abdus Salam’s medal is the jewel in the library crown of Aligarh Muslim University. Dr Salam was awarded Nobel Prize for his study on the fundamental weak interaction of particles. His research placed him in parallel to great scientists like Debye, Kersonn, London Vander Waal, etc who did tremendous work on weak forces of interaction. Now Salam’s forces are being studied at many research centres in the US and other parts of the world. I was one of the lucky few to have an interaction with Dr Salam (1979-80) at the convocation held in his honour at Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. He was proud to be called an Indian and not a Pakistani as has been mentioned in the said write-up. He belongs to the Ahmedian sect of Muslims from Qadian, a small town in Gurdaspur district of Punjab. This sect has been denounced by Pakistan but still many Muslims from Qadian feel it an honour to be called Indians, first and last. Dr S.K. AGGARWAL, Dean, Academic Affairs, Amritsar College of Engineering, Amritsar